The Girl I Once Knew
by sanzopriestess
Summary: Girl meets boy. Boy pisses girl off. Girl joins an infamous pirate crew and then gets even. This is a typical story about what happens when a boy meets a girl told in a not so typical way. AcexOc.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

Also I didn't quite know what categories to put this in…so sorry if it's in the wrong ones. -_-U

So without further ado, enjoy! :D

**The Girl I Once Knew**

* * *

It was just about that time of day again so I sat down in the middle of my boat, slinging my backpack off my back and into my awaiting lap. I opened the bag and began to dig for the little food I had left.

As if to remind me that I was starving my stomach growled. "I know I know." I grumbled pawing through the random assortment of things I had stowed away in the bag. "I'm getting there."

Where was that stupid sandwich? I impatiently wondered as I began pulling things out hoping to find that sandwich faster.

Even though Pop's ship was in sight, it was so far away and I just couldn't wait to eat until I reached it. However, I'd be able to make it if I stopped for a snack.

But pulling out one particular item I paused, hesitant to carelessly toss it aside, unwilling to mindlessly throw it into the pile of stuff that had accumulated at my side. In my hand was something I hadn't seen for a while, honestly I thought I had lost it. The week following the discovery that it wouldn't be found no matter where I looked I had been a complete and total asswipe to any and every one.

For in my hand was a worn journal soft with age. Its cover was cracked and creased, its edges folded and even slightly ripped. The sides were dirty and stained. And the spine, where binding was coming undone, had been taped in several different places. Said tape was now yellowed but still doing its job of holding the journal together quite well.

It had fallen open to a page somewhere in the middle.

The writing my eyes were met with made my heart stop. It made my chest seize up and my breathing quicken.

This journal had been well loved by two different people for two very different reasons.

It was a diary. It was the one place someone could write down everything they felt and thought. It would never spill their secrets, not willingly at least. Between the covers reality could be recorded from their perception. And they could confide within its blank pages everything they couldn't say aloud, the things they couldn't tell anyone, and the things they did not wish to share with anyone.

Of course that was until I found it. After that all those secrets spilled out one after another until there were no more secrets to be had.

I could quote most of the journal, in fact I knew the first entry by heart, or at least some of it. I had read and reread this thing so many times that when I looked at the entry titles I'd know exactly what memory would come next.

My hunger and the thought of that sandwich had completely vanished as I flipped to the very first page of the journal. With my eyes closed I silently mouthed the first few sentences.

_The other day I woke up in a strange place only to find that I was on the ship of the infamous Whitebeard. I'm pretty sure I fainted because the next thing I know is that I'm opening my eyes to find some shirtless weirdo in my face. No sooner had I sat up did he shamefully fall into me. That wouldn't have been so bad, I could have forgiven him. But his face pressed right into my chest! The nerve of that man! They said that he had something wrong with him that made him randomly fall asleep but that's a bunch of bullshit!_

As I reached the end of what I could remember with my eyes closed I felt my mouth curl up into what Kira had on many accounts described as 'that sly little grin'. It hadn't been my fault that she hadn't believed the crew, though I didn't blame her for not believing them.

Even now, after so long, I could still feel her rage. I was no longer sitting in my little yellow boat but instead meandering down one of the ships corridors. The hallway was empty except for me and a girl, who was storming towards me, a scowl set on her face, green eyes narrowed and her fists clenched. As clear as day, over the quiet noise of the sea, I could hear her angry voice over.

"You!" She seethed stopping in front of me and jabbing a finger into my chest. "You're that guy who face planted into my chest aren't you?!"

And even though it was a question she had asked her fierce green eyes had told me that she had already made up her mind. She knew it was me. She wasn't even giving me the benefit of the doubt.

Sheepishly I rubbed the back of my head, the sweat drop forming as I closed my eyes and smiled, trying to scrounge up a good apology. I hadn't meant to do that, it wasn't my fault that my narcolepsy had to kick in right then and there. But because I had closed my eyes I had never seen it coming. With my eyes open I would have seen it coming but there was probably nothing I could have done to stop the attack.

One second I was trying to apologize and the next I was on the floor watching her storm away, trying to figure out what had happened. The side of my face throbbed and for the next day I was trying to piece together if she had really punched me or not. Seastone, it was the only way she would have been able to have sent me reeling. And yet I hadn't seen a single ounce of it on her.

As if the blow were fresh I lifted my hand to the left side of my face and rubbed the jaw that she had punched that day.

After much searching and watching her closely, I discovered that she did indeed have seastone, a single band around each finger except for her thumbs. Each ring had a swirling design that crept over her knuckles and covered them enough so that she could pack quite a punch. And that discovery made me determined to avoid her fists.

However as much as I tried they came in contact with me on several accounts for several different reasons. Sometimes she was just playing around and other times…well it would have been better to lay low until her anger had been released on something, or someone, that wasn't me.

Pulling myself out of the memory, I turned the page. Kira's anger at me for me falling asleep on her chest during our first meeting scoured the next several pages, almost ripping through the first page. On the flip side of that page was her plan of revenge, punching me, which took up half of the page. And the events that filled up the rest of the page were the results of her revenge.

And even though I had never heard her laugh because of that little victory her joyous words that celebrated her 'victory' called to mind the small jingle of her laughter.

And while Kira didn't laugh often, the most heard often heard of them was the quiet chuckle hidden behind a calloused hand.

Unfortunately the most allusive laugh of hers was the one that I had only had the privilege of hearing once. She had been laughing so hard that her face had turned red; her breathing coming in frighteningly irregular gasps. It was the one time that she had sobered up only to look at me and start the process all over again because I hadn't been done laughing myself. She had worn this desperate expression on her beet red face as she snorted and fought for air. And even though the object of humor was long forgotten we had found it funny for many more minutes.

I don't even remember what it was that had set her off. While it was something I had said or done I just wish I could remember what it was that had been so funny. Maybe if I had known I would have done it again just to get the same kind of reaction out of her.

I wonder if Kira remembers what it was. My mind wandered without my permission. The inquisition instantly unfurled the smile on my face.

I scowled.

Of course she'd remember. While her memory wasn't perfect, it was pretty damn good, which was helpful more often than not. But it was also a curse at times as well, especially when me or someone else had said something particularly stupid either to her or to someone else and she had caught the exchange she'd always recite exactly what we had said, word for word wether it was her business or not. This often times got her in trouble but we had learned quickly that she could hold her own.

The worst part about her memory though and how she used it against most everybody was that she never had any remorse! I think she enjoyed it truth be told.

With a sigh I turned my thoughts back to the journal in my lap and skimmed the next few entries, which were simply about how she had adjusted to the crew over the following month. There were some mentions of Thatch, of Marco, Pops of course, some other random guys, and girls, the nurses and more often than not me. But I was searching for a certain entry, reading each heading carefully as not to pass it up.

Why was I mentioned more often than not?

Well according to her I 'just wouldn't leave her alone'. I was 'constantly bothering' her. And 'always in her face'. She also found my 'condition' as she always wrote, with the quotations around it and everything, a large number of things including but not limited to 'freaky', 'annoying', 'just an excuse for him to sleep', 'hell just an excuse for a lot of things', 'obnoxious' and 'occasionally amusing'.

Ah there it was! I stopped on the page labeled _First Adventure._

That was always a fun one to read.

It was several pages long because it described a twenty one and a half day 'adventure' as she had been so kind as to call it. Unfortunately there were a few pages missing but, that's because they had been ripped out long before I had found the journal.

Our first adventure had lasted exactly three weeks namely because of me and the fact that we had to play catch up to the Moby Dick. They had actually left on time, something that did not happen often, and hadn't thought to come get me, though they had left my boat.

_For once we're actually headed towards an island. We're going to dock and everything. Every day we draw closer the division captains are pestering me to pick a division to belong to. And, as always, Ace is being not only the most persistent but also the most annoying. When he's not bothering me he's actually not half bad. I've heard him say a few wise things to a few select people and when he'd not being stupid he seems quite intelligent. ***sigh*** if only he'd show that side more often._

_We're docking! We're docking!_

The next entry read, divided by three straight lines across the page.

_I don't know what to expect but since it seems this island is a fire island, or so Marco said. That certainly explained why it is getting so hot and why the water is practically boiling around us. I decided to tell the division leaders that I was going to test the waters, starting with the second division. They say it doesn't make sense as to why I wouldn't start with the first division but Ace is made of fire, this is a fiery island, it makes sense in my head and that's all that matters. I don't have to explain myself to them._

The first time I had read this I hadn't been aware of her logic. I had thought that she was just choosing me because she liked me best. It had certainly explained why on earth she had shrugged my arm off of her shoulder…looks like she hadn't been 'in a mood' and it hadn't 'her time of month' either.

The island had indeed been a fire island. Before we were allowed to enter the island we had been led through a place that was called the coating pit. That was where we had been drenched with what had seemed, at the time, to be freezing water.

However, even though we had been told that it would protect us from the element of the island, we soon found out that we could bathe in the lava, which acted as cannel throughout the city, if we so desired. Our clothes had been made fire proof as well, meaning we could catch on fire and not even know it. Our skin, our clothes, our hair, not a single thing would catch fire or even singe a single one of us.

Of course that wasn't too big of a deal for me but Kira was mystified, diving head first into the lava and going out of her way to catch herself on fire. She wasn't the only one who did this. However she was the first one to do it.

After taking care of business on the island we had been told that we had two weeks of 'free time' to do whatever the heck we wanted.

So I had dragged Kira to a bar with the crew. If I hadn't been the one to drag her there someone else would have done the deed. There at the bar we discovered that Kira could hold her liquor quite well, beating some of the best drinkers of the crew. However after getting totally shit faced and passing out mid stride I decided to take her to a hotel room to let her recover in peace.

I had done nothing indecent to her except remove her clothes, just her shirt, shoes and pants, because she was burning up. I also put a cold washcloth on her forehead to cool her down a bit and hoped for the best when she woke up.

However the best was not what I got. absent-mindedly I had fallen asleep in the same bed next to her. She was on top of the covers and I was under them. Yet when she woke up I had been jolted awake by screaming and her feet kicking me in my thigh over and over. I had scrambled out of the bed faster than Luffy when he smelled meat, wide awake and as confused as hell. After we sprang up from the bed things started flying.

That had not been the slightest bit fun.

First was her boot, then it was the other boot. And because I cared so much about her having footwear and not being beaten because it was my fault her boots had been melted, I had dodged the flying objects instead of letting them pass through me. After the boots it was a religious book that went flying, then the lamp and the alarm clock and _**THEN**_ a chunk of the rock wall, and then another chunk. Rock after rock she threw, an endless supply of ammo if she so wished, unfortunately for me.

"What the hell?!" I shouted dodging yet another rock. It shattered against the mirror behind me. I glanced between her and the mirror several times with wide eyes. So much for having a hangover.

"What the hell?!" She echoed indignantly. "What did you do to me?!"

At the question my hands balled into fists. I hadn't been able to believe that she had asked that question. Though looking back I suppose I understood where that question had come from. I was a bit of a 'strange man' and she had 'fallen asleep' fully dressed. It didn't help that I had fallen asleep next to her. But at the time I had been furious.

What kind of 'something' did she think I had done?! "Nothing." I growled angrily, ducking just seconds after.

"If you're not honest I'm going to take your head!" There was a brief pause where she narrowed her eyes at me and was poised to leap over the bed and lunge. She'd probably go for my throat. "Why am I naked?"

Kira was not naked. Covering her upper body was a black sports bra, nothing special. Unfortunately covering her lower half was a black lacy pair of underpants. And dead smack in the middle of the pair was a tiny little red bow. I had not been prepared for that when I had slid her pants off.

"You've still got your undergarments on." I couldn't help but point out. I don't think she'd be half as angry if she had seen the blush on my face when I had removed her pants.

Her usual outfit had consisted of baggy grey sweatpants in which she shoved into boots that went only an inch or two above her ankle, a red long sleeved shirt that hung off of one shoulder and a black sports bra with only one visible strap. Across the top hem of the shirt was a band of white stretching from shoulder to shoulder, said shirt also did not reach her belly button but instead somewhere just above it.

However those words had not been the smartest thing to say. It was as though I had pointed the gun at myself and then proceeded to pull the trigger. She was a speeding bullet, diving over the bed, screaming through the air as she sped towards me. There was no way to avoid her and so to the floor we fell.

We hadn't gotten very far in terms of determining a winner when the door was thrown open to reveal about half of the crew. However neither of us had paid any attention until someone cleared their throat and said, "Ace. Kira. I take it the two of you are alright." Again at the time I had not understood the question. I suppose we had been making a bunch of noise, enough to raise suspicions or alarm.

The sound of Marco's voice had caused the same reaction, we both froze. My hands were shoving against her shoulders, one of her hands was fisted in my hair, and the other poised to punch. Our legs were tangled up like yarn and both of us were facing the group of people that had accumulated around our doorway.

"No. We're doing just fine." She answered tossing her hair over her shoulder with a flick of her head. From below I watched her smile sweetly at them and said, "Actually Ace," As she spoke my name the hand in my hair tightened. I grabbed her wrist and began trying to yank her free. ", won't be ok when I'm done with him. Now if you don't mind step out of my room and close the door."

I remembered that Marco had actually obeyed, backing up and quietly closing the door. As the door had closed his blue eyes told me that I was going to explain things wether I wanted to or not. Eventually we had called it a truce, only after she had forced an apology. The reason it was forced was because I wasn't going to apologize for something I didn't do. But in the end she had won and gotten what she wanted.

Hungry I had dragged her to a restaurant and proceeded to order several of everything. And when she tried to steal my food I stabbed her hand like I would have had she been Luffy. I had no regrets stabbing her and she seemed to get the message.

The thing that I could never figure out was when I woke up, howshe gotten food.

She claimed that I had been asleep when she had ordered and that the waitress had taken the plate that was next to be eaten because she thought I was done.

I think that she stole it but, I could never be certain.

After inhaling that meal I dragged her out of the restaurant and deep into the island. My destination was the huge volcano at the very center of the island. According to some locals that was where some ferocious beasts and the place their god resided. Said got was a fearsome being made of volcanic rock, oozing lava. Regardless if that 'god' was just a devil fruit user or not, I wanted to explore and I knew that Kira had nothing better to do, so with me she was forced to come.

We camped several nights before reaching our destination. Each night was a different experience at the very least. One night I remember that she slept outside of the tent, the other night we had laid in each other's arms and stargazed through the haze of the heat of the island. For each day we traveled and night we camped out there was one side of a piece of paper dedicated to it.

And even though she was mad at or annoyed with me most of the time, this evident in both her behavior then and the journal I had invaded, I think she enjoyed it more than she had ever let on in writing and her behavior.

Our little camping expedition had taken longer than intended and by time we got back to the shore there was no ship waiting for us but instead a little yellow boat that was meant to fit one person, me. They hadn't been kind enough to leave a rowboat for Kira.

"So how are we getting there?" She proceeded to point at the ship in the distance. The one we were supposed to be on. "I am not getting into this thing." As if to emphasize her point she nudged my yellow boat with the toe of her boot. But out options were limited and so I was left with no choice but to do what I had done.

"Are too." And with that I grabbed her around the waist, threw her over my shoulder and leapt into my boat. I was going to pay for this later but I wasn't going to leave her, not now that she was a part of the crew. She relentlessly beat at my back and kicked at my face, shouting profanities and loud protests as we sped towards the Moby Dick. Maybe it was a good thing we didn't have a rowboat.

Needless to say the very first thing she did when I decided I needed a break was punch me in the jaw like she had the time I had fallen asleep on her chest. As her fist collided with my jaw she shouted the words, "Don't you ever do that again." I had never seen it coming and because of that I found myself stumbling back, my feet scrambling to find purchase on the floor of my boat. But when none were found I found myself falling back through the air.

I remembered the feeling of falling, it is not a pleasant one that's for sure.

Before me I witnessed the transformation of her angry green eyes. They had widened with realization. I remember quite vividly how I had instinctively reached for her, how I had hoped to catch myself and how she had done the exact same thing, our goals were the same and that was to stop me from falling into the water. It didn't matter that she was the one that had set me into action. Even now I could feel her fingertips ghosting my wrist and the 'oh shit' look on her face as we narrowly missed each other. I could feel my hand slipping past hers and then the sensation of falling into the paralyzing water.

Down.

Down.

Down.

I had sunk.

My limbs had been frozen. My air escaping to the surface in the form of quivering domes. My mind freaking out. It was the feeling of hopelessness that had taken over. There was nothing I could do to save myself.

Farther and farther away the surface slipped from my grasp. My mind and body was panicking. Unlike normal people I had sunk like a hammer. I did not, still do not, have the ability to claw my way towards the surface. The weight of my clothes weren't what had dragged me down into its inky depths.

Despite what was going on inside of my mind, despite the fear and the choas, despite the situation everything had been so serene down there, so quiet and… well blue. The sun was an orb of light whose rays penetrated the water and wavered within the current. Above me a few fish ventured and my boat bobbed as if nothing was amiss.

And then, all of the sudden, the water exploded into a frenzy of white bubbles, that were racing towards the surface in a sudden burst. A determined expression was set in her features, worry danced in her eyes and I decided that if we lived I'd forgive her for sending me overboard.

She grabbed my wrist, this time her grip strong. Once Kira had ahold of me she then kicked towards the surface. I could feel her urgency as she did what I could not do myself. I remember being worried that we wouldn't make it. I remember how I had prayed that Kira would succeede.

Without warning we broke the surface, both gasping for air the watery expanse had deprived us of. She swam over to the side of my boat and pulled me over the side so that I hung on it while she hoisted herself up and into my boat.

After regaining her balance she reached for me, grabbed both wrists, and then began pulling me up, with much effort. Her arms were shaking, her lips blue, but she was determined, that much was obvious, overriding the exhaustion so clear in her features and body language.

She hadn't been prepared for the waters sudden release and so she stumbled and fell back, me landing on top of her, my arms braced on either side of her head. I thought that she was going to punch me again, this time for landing in such a compromising position, but she didn't. Instead she laid there, panting with one hand over her heart. I pushed off of her only to flop back in a similar fashion, her feet at my head and my feet at her head. Only I had one knee bent and now she had moved so that we each had enough space to lie.

"I'm sorry." Was the first thing she had said.

"For which part?" I asked slowly closing my eyes and then slowly opening them.

"The water." She confirmed my suspicions with that statement.

So under my breath I muttered. "That's what I thought."

For the next hour we recuperated, talking to each other between gasps and pants for air.

The next few entries were about the week it took to get back to Pops and the crew. And let me tell you they all got a kick out of the fact that we had to play catch up. It had probably been a game to them, they had probably kept an eye on the two of us, deriving great pleasure and maybe even making bets as they watched us.

Of course by time we had made it back we not only looked bad but we smelled worse. Kira's aurburn hair was limp and nearly balck in color. Every inch of exposed skin was burned so badly that she could hardly move. She was half dead on my back, my backpack on her back and my boat back where it belonged. I hadn't been much better. I was starving, smelled like dead fish, my hair was greasy and I felt horrible. My face hurt as well, I think it got burned because I had insisted that Kira take it to sheild her face from the sun.

Half-conscious she had snapped at them to shut up because if they hadn't thought to leave us then we wouldn't have had to catch up to them.

Of course that didn't have the right effect but, when she said that after a shower and some sleep she had an announcement to make they had gotten quiet, well not quiet but they had stopped laughing at us and our states of being and began trying to figure out what it was she was going to announce.

After a shower, an ungodly amount of food, some sleep and knowing that Kira would be fine the crew was going to have hell to pay.

But it turns out that announcement was nothing more than to say that she was going to start with the first division, skip the second division and continue on with the third before she made her decision. Though she had threatened that she was leaning more towards my division and that's because of the week we had shared on the open sea and what they had done to us.

At the end of the entry describing our return I decided to take a little break. As I streched I arched my back, pushing my shoulders back before rolling my neck. There were several pops to be heard. The time was noted before I flipped the page and resumed reading.

I was far from close to quitting. Now that I had started the journey down memory lane I couldn't stop until the road ended. But I had all the time in the world, it did not matter how long I took. Of course it'd be hard to read in the dark and I refused to light the night with my fire, I refused to put it so close to something so dry, flammable and valueable. But I still had plenty hours of day left to use up reading and reminiscing.

The next seven pages, the front/back of one page per division, were devoted to her week in those said division. And so the next entry of interest was the one where she announced which division she would decide to go with.

_Yesterday I completed the week with the last division and so I promised that I would make my decision and announce it tomorrow. The problem? I don't know who I'm going to choose. I wouldn't want to make a liar out of myself, so I had better make up my mind tonight. Really they've all been great, I've had a lot of fun…and mishaps…with them but, it's been fun. I don't want to upset them with a decision, they're men so who knows maybe I'll hurt their pride. I don't know. But I guess we'll find out who I decide it'll be after I sleep on it._

I hadn't realized that Kira didn't even know who she was going to pick until the time of the announcement until I had picked up the journal and opened it up. That was one thing that I had come to learn about her, she loved to do things at the very last minute. So maybe she hadn't come to a conclusion until she addressed the crowd that had gathered to hear her decision.

It has been a clear day with a gentle breeze, a blazing blue sky and fluffy white clouds. Next to Pops' chair Kira stood, slightly elevated above the crowd. She was going to make her decision once Pops gave her the ok. But until then she spoke quietly to him.

In the end her decision wasn't really that big of a deal. However we had turned it into a competition. So money and pride was on the line and only her words would determine the winners. A hush had fallen over the deck as the men held their breaths. Money was clutched tightly in hands, waiting to be passed into the hands of another and then into another few. Quiet prayers to be correct were muttered, the soft breeze carried those prayers away.

Auburn hair fluttered in the wind, green eyes bright as the anticipation built itself up until it was nearly unbearable. And only then did she open her mouth to address us. "Members of the Whitebeard Pirates," She began with much grandeur. ", I have made my decision. The division I will belong to will be the," As if to torture us she had drawn out the end vowel of the last word. Each and every second that passed had been torturous and if she didn't reveal her decision soon I was going to pop. Fortunately before I had been able to erupt she said two words that really mattered. ", second division."

I had let out a whoop of joy, grabbing my hat and waved it wildly around in the air above me. I hadn't even been a division captain for more than three months and I had already recruited someone. Before I knew it I had shoved my way up to where she was standing and threw my arms around her, picking her up and spinning her around in the process.

_I know I shouldn't have chosen Ace's division. God he nearly killed me today after I made the announcement. I suppose he was happy to have won, his pride just got an unnecessary boost and I think he might have cracked a rib…not sure on that last one yet. Though I'll get it checked out sooner or later if it doesn't stop hurting. Turns out no one's feelings were hurt, no one was mad at me. In fact they all swarmed me, congratulating me on the decision and saying how it was a good one and how they forgave me for not choosing their division. Actually the only ones who weren't in a good mood were the ones who had lost all, or some of their money. But that was their faults not mine, so I have no sympathy for them._

I flipped the page only to have several small glossy slips of papers sticking out of the crack between the pages.

_It's been a few days since I joined the second division and I still don't know if I'm happy with my decision or not. I guess only time will tell. Right now I'm hiding from Ace. Today someone found a camera and decided that one of the nurses should take a picture of the crew._

_No harm there right?_

_Well at first there wasn't. We all squished in around Pops and looked at the camera. That was all fine and dandy until it went missing. We all disbanded to find the camera to see Ace with it in hand, grinning widely as some people fled from the lens and others posed before it. After one picture was taken he turned and took another picture before whipping his head back and forth as though he were searching for someone. I took that time to get below deck. I figured that he was looking for me, and if he isn't right this instance he'll be on the hunt for me, I just know it. So that's why I'm hiding in a supplies closet, behind the door and wedged between a few boxes of something or rather. Hopefully he won't find me._

Again the page was divided by a few lines. And then the entry continued on, made up of a meager four words,

_Dammit he found me!_

I smiled yet again. I hadn't gotten punched but the glare I had received could have frozen hell over. But in the end I had gotten my pictures. After one of the two of us I dragged her around the ship and took pictures with her and everyone. I had even gotten people to take pictures of us and other crew members.

We even got one with Pops, who was laughing at us and our antics.

I took the pictures out of the journal and slowly shuffled through them. Each one a snapshot of time. Each photo brought forth another piece of the day I had gone crazy with the camera until the last picture was reached. And by time it was the day had been pieced together, not a single piece was missing. The jiggsaw had been completed.

In the first one she was glaring back at me with the same frosty look she had given me when I had fallen asleep on her chest. I was glad that looks could not kill. If they could I'd have been killed by now. Beside her I stood leaning towards her with a grin on my face and an arm around her shoulder, looking oblivious to her stiff stature and the glare she was shooting at the lens.

The next was the one with Pops. We stood on either arm of his chair, our arms thrown around his neck. The same grin was plastered on my face and this time, instead of a glare Kira was smiling, it was only the upturn of her lips but there was a glint in her eyes that hadn't been there before. Pops was smiling with his barrel of sake lifted towards the camera, in the process of nodding his head and smiling at the camera.

I placed that one behind the previous one. A new picture greeted me.

This one was me and some other guys making strange faces, our tongues sticking out of our mouths, our mouths stretched wide as though we were Luffy and had rubbery mouths. In the middle was Kira. One of my fingers was hooked on her mouth, pulling it towards me.

In retrospect that had not been a good idea. But I still had all of my fingers so it was all good.

Her green eyes were not looking at the camera but instead towards me. Her fist was cocked back and even though I was pulling on her mouth she was obviously frowning. And even though I was making a weird face the camera had captured the change between joking around and 'oh shit'.

Laughing aloud I flipped to the last one. This one was of Thatch, Marco, Kira and I. This was the only smile where she was smiling for real. But that's because Thatch had discovered that she was ticklish. And so as Haruta reached the number three and pressed the button Thatch had grabbed her side. And while he had gotten punched for that move the picture turned out perfect, looking as though we were all friends who liked each other.

But there was one missing. It was the one with the entire crew crowded in around Pops.

No, there were two missing from this stack.

The picture had been hard to get, seeing how it was the only one where she was smiling while in my presence with the camera of her own free will. Looking back I wondered what was wrong with her, why she had decided to put up with me and smile so brightly. In the picture we were both flashing peace signs with our hands, our arms around each other's necks. Both of our eyes were scrunched closed, big grins spread across our faces.

I lied. There were a total of three pictures missing. We had taken two of the ones where it was Thatch, Marco, me and, Kira. Thatch hadn't learned his lesson the first time and he had grabbed her side again as Haruta retook the picture. The third time Haruta gave up and told us to find someone else to take the picture for us.

And since they hadn't been there when I had found the journal I wasn't worried that I had lost them. Though from time to time I wondered where those three pictures had wondered off to.

Of course after the picture spree I hadn't returned the camera. In fact I used it for my pranks on the crew and getting even for leaving us on that fire island. Occasionally I pulled it out of its hiding spot and randomly took pictures of people. Sometimes they were good, and other times you could tell when I got caught, actually that was most of the time. Eventually someone had enough and destroyed it, putting an end to my picture taking fun.

That one entry about her hiding was the only entry that spoke of me and the camera, though she had caught me quite a few times trying to catch her smiling or getting proof that she wasn't alway mad at people.

And so after putting those pictures back where they belonged I skipped the entry on the next page and flipped it over.

This one was titled **WHAT?! THE!? HELL?!**

All in caps, and in bold. I remembered this one.

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**A/N:** So if anyone cares my inspiration for this fic was the song Champagne's for Celebrating by Mayday Parade. And for some reason it made me think of Ace… It was the inspiration for the last line- wish I said don't go…or something like that. Lol. I hadn't intended to make this more than one chapter. But it was getting kind of long so I decided to split it up so that it wouldn't get too terribly long.

I certainly hope you enjoyed The Girl I Once Knew. Thanks for taking your time to read this fic. : )

I'd love to hear what y'all thought of it. If you liked it, if you didn't like it. If I screwed up somewhere in the sentences and think it would sound better written a different way. Also were things confusing? I hope not. If they were how might I correct it?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I edited the first chapter so that it was a bit smoother and the mistakes corrected. Nothing too big just wanted to tell y'all.

* * *

_It's been a while since I've bothered to document my life. So I'll briefly catch you up. As of late I've been spending a bunch of time with Ace, the captain of the second division in the Whitebeard pirates. He's been showing me the ropes of the ship and its mechanics. We've also been sharpening my fighting skills. According to him I cannot win a fight by throwing an onslaught of punches at people. And the crew, well they're not half bad, I mean boys will be boys and they look REALLY scary…well some of them at least. But you see the problem is that they've been jumping to the wrong conclusions about things. Relentlessly they tease Ace. But he's not into me; I punch him far too often. And vice versa, I'm not into him…at all._

The first time I had read that I had scoffed.

She hadn't known that even back then I had been into her. But I had reasons. She was new and always so animated, one minute calm and playing aloof and then the next she's beating someone, punching them and shouting at them. She hadn't known that most of the time we spend together, that the reason that she 'needed to know about the ship and how it worked' was because I was just making up lame reasons to spend time with her. Of course her fighting had actually needed a lot of work and it was just one more excuse. Someone else could have easily been put in charge of teaching Kira.

I was quick to find that she was a very fast learner, committing almost everything I had said or demonstrated to memory and could recall it a week later after no further mention of it. Of course I had a list of things she needed to know and learn. Another bad thing about our time spent together was that we were always at each other's throats or I was asleep.

And at first she had complained about why was it me who had to be the one to show her the ropes. Fortunately after spewing some bullshit about how I was the second division commander, that she was the newbie and that it was my job to show her Kira's complaints had stopped. However she had still grumbled about me when she thought I could hear her.

_Anyway's that's not what's got me so riled up. Sure they make mock kissing faces at us and some rather vaguer gestures, insinuating inappropriate things between Ace and I. But today three…no 4 people said we made a cute couple or that we looked good together! As if I'd ever fall for that narcoleptic buffoon!_

_NO!_

_Just No!_

_Never would he fall for me._ That's what she had written in bold. And that made me smile both then and now.

The funny thing was her reaction to each of those four people, different each time someone said anything close to being about us being a couple. The first time she had turned beet red and stammered a weak denial. The next she had laughed and said 'As if'. The third she stepped around me, fists clenched and threatened the unfortunate nurse. And the final time she had merely stormed away, muttering curses under her breath.

At the time I had thought that the crew had been onto me and was trying to get a reaction. So I had tried to play it cool. The key here is tried. It hadn't even lasted long because the next day neither of us would make contact of any kind. I was merely trying to be careful so that they crew wouldn't keep thinking that I was into her. Our conversations were a string of terse, one worded answers, curt answers and the bare minimal. Our eyes refused to make contact, and if your hands, our arms, if anything accidentally made contact she'd pull away as though I had burned her.

The following week was pure torture because that's all they consisted of. The crew noticed this sudden change and they continued to bother us, this time about said change. Some asked if we had done 'it', others recalled the couple comments and figured that was the reason behind our behavior. Either way, we both strongly denied both every time they bothered us about it, which was whenever the mood struck and we were in their sights.

_Dammit! I've had enough of these awkward and torturous days!_

The entry after her explosion on paper about the comments about us being a couple exclaimed. And even though the writing was faded I could still almost feel her rage, hell I could almost hear her saying those words.

_I've waiting for Ace to be a man and put an end to this. But I guess he's still a boy. Sigh. I guess I have no option but to do it myself. After all if you ever want something done you've gotta do it yourself._

Unaware of her intentions that say we had started it like we had been starting every day for a while now. We left our rooms and met up in the hallway on the way the breakfast. Sometimes we spoke, other times we were ghosts to the other, invisible and silent. As usual we ate; Kira and I sat with only one empty chair between us. She ignored me and I ignored her as we ate. If we hadn't done so, the entire first meal of the way would have been ruined because it would have been exactly like all of our conversations had been.

Sometimes we got straight to work, other days we went our separate ways and did whatever. Today however we had agreed to spar.

We had walked there together, having finished within minutes of each other. Down the hallway we walked, Kira slightly in front of me. The hallways were deserted and as silent as ghost towns. But the further we walked the more I caught up to her until we were walking next to each other but on the far sides of the hallway. We couldn't have accidentally bumped into one another even if we had wanted to.

And then all of the sudden out of the blue she had spoken. "Are you mad at me?"

Even after reading the journal the question seemed strange to me. I wasn't usually the one who was mad, that was her, and they were always in erratic bursts. It was usually she who was mad at me. But I had answered anyway. "No. Are you mad at me?" Our behavior as of late hadn't been angry but instead shy, we were both trying to keep our distance yet not at the same time.

We weren't very good at avoiding each other because I saw her and she saw me multiple times a day. We even had awkward, brief encounters filled with wandering gazes, fidgiting hands and fragments of conversations.

She had let out a little laugh. "Nah. Not mad." And that was that. Silently we entered the ship's dojo.

At the time I hadn't gotten the hint. Looking back I suppose I should've asked what was wrong. If I had things would have turned out the same, we simply would have taken a different path. However I hadn't tried to verbally straighten things out.

Once in the room she stretched and I waited for her to finish. I wasn't really paying attention to her; in fact I was off in lala land. I don't remember what I was thinking at the time I just know that one minute she was stretching her legs and the next she was tackling me to the mats. I had gotten no warning, no sign that she was ready to start.

One thing lead to the next and all of the sudden I find myself pinned to the ground, my arm twisted painfully behind my back. One of her knees was pressing painfully down on the side of my face; the rest of her weight was on my back, though I don't quite know how she managed that. But that didn't matter. This was the one time we weren't afraid, we weren't shy about getting physical with each other.

"We're friends right Ace?" Kira had asked in this innocent tone that had more or less confused me.

After wondering if the question was a trap I honestly answered, "Yeah. That's right." At least I thought we were friends. Actually we were nakama after she had decided to join the crew and picked a division. But there was no telling what she considered me to be.

"Nothing more correct?"

Well I wanted to be. But that wasn't the right answer. The correct answer was to confirm the question. And so I went with the correct answer, opting not to tell her what I wanted. There was always time for the later. "Correct."

"Then why are you acting so strange?"

I had been trying to play it cool and act as though no one had said anything. However that's not what had happened and since she started getting all weird I had gone along with her reaction. Or that's what I'm going to keep telling myself. "You're acting strange as well." I had instantly pointed out, rather defensively I might add.

"Well let's cut it out."

"Ok." I agreed. There was no reason to be difficult. That week had been hell.

The page that told of her plan to put an end to the awkwardness was divided with her usual page dividers, the three straight horizontal lines stretching margin to margin. And below that was a few lines.

_I thought that that was going to be hard. I'm so glad that it wasn't._

I could just see her let out a breath of relief that mirrored how relieved I had been when we had agreed to act normal around each other, including all of the punches, grins and bursts of anger.

And on the next page was a mere five words.

_Everything is back to normal._ Following those words was a smiley face that resembled :D.

_You know when I get the chance I want to meet this Luffy person that Ace keeps mentioning. He might not realize it but whenever he talks about Luffy his face lights up. His smile gets larger and he's told every single story about his 'idiot brother' that the crew groans and doesn't stop to listen to the wild tales. From my understanding they were children when these things happened, between the ages of 10 and 17 if I'm not mistaken. Makes me wish I had someone like that as a kid._

There was another entry on the next page detailing the excitement of a few raids we had done on an amateur crew who was aiming to take someone's head. She wrote how she had been amazed that we hadn't destroyed the ship, merely set them straight and then sent them on their way, telling them if they were to try again they would be destroyed. Though everyone but Kira knew that if they came back again we'd probably have some new nakama to take care of.

But those entries were entries that had been written during the calm patch of events following the couple incident.

Unfortunately things hadn't stayed 'normal' for long. Not five pages later she was saying how glad she was to be back. The good thing was that each entry was not only titled but also dated. So things had been good on the Moby Dick for a total of two weeks before the next big 'adventure' swooped in.

_Never in my life have I ever been happy to see someone. He was like…well like an angel, standing on the other side of the bars I couldn't escape myself. Never have I ever been so glad to see Ace. I don't think I'll ever be so glad to see him again. I can't believe they saw me like that. It was shameful and never shall it happen again. And never again will I be so dependent on others. Only princess's need saved and I am not a princess._

The men at bars who had said 'hey princess' had quickly learned their lessons. But I found it somewhat amusing that after everything that had happened that the things she was worried about was being dependent on her nakama, being seen in a state of what she had probably interpreted as weakness and not being princess like. Instead Kira should have been worried about her state of living. Much later and she would have been on her way to the afterlife.

"Where's Kira?" I remember someone asking. I remember finding that she wasn't on the ship as I had thought. And so along with a few others, Teach, Marco and Thatch included, we went back into town and tore it up looking for her. If she had only been gone for a few hours I wouldn't have been so concerned, but it had been a few days and there had been no sign of her. But until now I had figured that we were merely missing each other. I just figured that she'd be on the ship when I was in town or that she was in town when I was on the ship.

"Why don't we just leave a boat and she can catch up." I don't remember the retard who suggested such a thing. But needless to say I remember them regretting their decision to open their mouth.

I remember not being the only one who was concerned for our newest member. So we had organized a search party and then proceeded to tear up the small island. Not literally but we searched everywhere for her. Almost the entire crew was searching for just one girl. But we'd do the same for everyone else.

Kira had said that she needed to do a few things before she joined us at a bar or joined me in exploring the island. There was nothing wrong with that so we had agreed to meet up at a certain spot later if she didn't find us in a bar. She was a big girl, capable of taking care of herself that's why we had let her go. There would be nothing to worry about if the girl was on the ship or could be found in the town. But that was the thing none of us had been able to find her.

"Do you think she left?" Someone, I think it had been Marco, asked. But the idea was so absurd that I had shaken my head and tried to brainstorm places she'd be.

"Oi Pops where do you think Kira's wondered off to?" I asked looking up at the old man. It was unlikely that he knew. If he did he'd have already told us where to find her. But it was likely that he had more of a clue than us.

"The girl's not on the island you say?" He asked.

"The ships!" I exclaimed snapping my fingers together. "Do you think she's on one of them?" It was a rhetorical question really. I had already made up my mind. I'd destroy them all, even if after all of that work that she wasn't on a single one of them.

"Possibly." Pops said after considering what I had just said. But it didn't matter. I had made up my mind and now all that was left to do was to raid some ships.

"I'll be back." As I spoke I had pulled my hat onto my head before walking to the side of the ship, where my boat was waiting for me. I vaulted over the side and stuck a landing. The crew wasn't far behind, using whatever methods they wished to.

I remember that Marco was right there next to me, using his phoenix, occasionally called chicken, wings to fly besides me. "Never seen you so worried." He had said as we sped towards the closest boat. If I didn't think that Kira was on that ship I'd have destroyed it already.

"Yeah." I agreed. The only person I've worried about so much is Luffy, but that's because he's an idiot and I don't think that's going to change any time soon.

"You gotta thing for her?"

"It that obvious?" I grumbled under my breath as I slowed my boat and leapt onto the rail of the ship before me. I crouched down on the rail, their attention mine, and then asked, "Sorry to bother you but have you seen a girl about yay tall," I demonstrated how tall Kira was. ", with auburn hair and green eyes?" But all I got was blank stares.

That was until a woman shoved her way through the crowd of men and with her hands on her hips said, "Yeah that girl went an' picked a fight with some guys three times her size by herself."

Judging by the look on her face she didn't approve of Kira's actions. Though who had she been picking a fight with?

"Did you happen to see where she went ma'am?" I asked the blond.

"Nah. But if she ain't dead in a ditch somewhere they've probly gott'er." The scantily clad woman shamelessly reached into her shirt and pulled out a stack of papers, in which she began to thumb through. Pulling one particular one out and turning it around, she asked, "This yer gal Fire Fist?"

It took me longer than it should have to answer the simply question. But that's because I didn't recognize the girl in the picture at first. Kira's long auburn hair was pinned up, stray strands framing her face. On her face was the usual ferocious expression, her green eyes narrowed. In the picture she was wearing a sleeveless kimono. She also looked a few years younger and the bounty wasn't too shabby. Though it had made me wonder.

"Well?" She asked.

"Yeah that's her." I had finally managed. Then reaching out for the paper asked, "Can I have that?"

"Yeah sure." When she handed me the paper I merely folded it up and pocketed it. "Last I saw 'er she was arguin' with the Takehara Pirates." She informed me. But before she had been able to open her mouth to say any more I tipped my hat, thanked her and then jumped down from the rail and onto my boat.

The Takehara Pirates huh? Well I had certainly never heard of them. It was the first and last time I would ever hear of them. Well would be after I got answers from Kira once we got her back onto the Moby Dick.

I had told Marco, the crew and Pops what was going on before I began searching the ships for the Takehara Pirates. Pops hadn't stopped me and even if he had I wouldn't have listened to him. The first few ships were either fishing ships or belonged to another band of pirates. I didn't bother to remember their names they were unimportant.

It was the last ship. This one with a Jolly Roger flying high. Much like I had the other ship I landed on the rail and asked, "Excuse me but are you the Takehara Pirates?" The Moby Dick was coming up around behind them. I guess they had the same idea as me, this had to be it. Not one of them noticed because I had their full attention.

One particular man puffed his chest out and waddled a few steps towards me. I believe he was trying to be intimidating but even now I wasn't too sure about that. I didn't give him the chance to utter a sound.

"Have you seen this girl?" I had asked pulling out the old worn wanted poster. Once we got her back and she was ok I had a long list of questions to ask that girl. And I was going to get those answers.

The burly man did not answer my question. Instead the crew, the man included, began sneering questions about who I thought I was coming onto their ship and demanding answers. Some even asked me what I was going to do to them, in a mocking manner of course. But they would see.

I jumped from the rail and onto the middle of the deck as the planks were being lowered and people were preparing to board this ship. With my hands on my hips I declared, "I am Portgas D. Ace and if you bastards have hurt my friend you're gonna have hell to pay." As if on cue a roar shook the air before the deck was flooded with the Whitebeard Pirates. Pops stood on the side, his arms folded across his chest, as he watched us. He was letting us have our fun.

Chaos broke out, men, and a few women, were everywhere. Bullets, blades and fists alike had passed right through me as I had calmly walked through the mess, searching for the little lost sheep. Since Kira obviously wasn't on the deck I decided to search below for her. Anyone who got in my way had met the same fate. I had not been messing around.

After a few minutes of what had felt like eternity I had found Kira, lying drenched in her own blood in a cell. Her head had been lolled to the side, her mouth agape and her green eyes had a glassy sheen cast over them. Her skin had been ashen, too pale to be healthy, a few limbs stuck out at odd angles and her body was covered with lacerations that had been strategically placed. I knew with just one look that they had planned on torturing her. I didn't care why; I didn't care about their reasons or of Kira's possible past.

I was just so worried that she wouldn't make it back to the ship. I had been overjoyed when I saw that her eyes had shifted towards me when I had come into view. She was alive, if only just barely.

Those bars never stood a chance. As gently as I could I maneuvered her onto my back and carried her to the Moby Dick where I handed her off to a nurse before standing upon the rail of the Moby Dick. By this time they were returning to our ship, leaving the Takehara Pirates because we had gotten what we had come for, Kira.

Of course the idiots tried to pursue us. But the planks were raised and there was only one thing left to do. And after an angry shout and a wave of blazing fire there was nothing much left of the Takehara Pirates and their ship.

The next entry, the one after the one where she was calling me an angel, there was not a single trace of that thankfulness, of her joy or relief to be found. In fact that change of tone was quite startling if it were read one page after the other.

_Well despite everything it seems my left hand still works, though my right is crushed, it's completely useless as of now. Just as I am. I've been put under bed arrest, which they claim is for my health. Unknown to them I've snuck out a large number of times. It's bad for my health to be still for so long._

_I've been on this ship for a full two weeks, I hardly remember anything after Ace picking me up, and I've only been conscious for three of those days. And all three days Ace has refused to leave me alone. He has all of these questions and when I refuse to answer them we butt heads and eventually he storms off. I don't think he understands that I'm trying not to get attached to them, picking a division was a lot to ask. But I don't know when I'll find the men I'm searching for. It could be years or days and the more distance I keep the easier it will be to leave when the time comes._

I hadn't been aware that she had been planning to leave us even then. Even if I had known I don't think I'd choose to do anything different. I regretted nothing. Though now, looking back, I suppose I should have respected her unwillingness to open up to me or the crew. I should have stopped while she still had her guard up and while no one was attached to the other, to the crew or to their new home. I should have picked up the breadcrumb like hints she had been dropping but I hadn't. But I had been too dense.

However as stubborn as I had discovered that Kira was and as often as we butted heads during the months of her recovery, I finally got my answers. She had finally caved; I had successfully forced her to open up, if only a little.

"Stop bothering me with questions!" Kira had shouted, her hands curling into tight fists, her eyes narrowing. She looked as though she wished that I had dared to come within arms distance, even though I was sitting on the edge of her bed, so close yet not close enough. I had learned my lesson the first time I had sat too close and she had punched me.

"Then answer my questions!" If she just answered them then I wouldn't be bothering her so much. But Nooo, Kira had to go and make things difficult so I was forced to bug her until I got my way. Hell I had been nice for about a week, which was nicer than Kira had ever been while shooting down my questions and refusing to satisfy my curiosity. I had tried to bribe others, like Marco, some of the nurses and Haruta to get answers. But they had failed just as I had.

"FINE I WILL!" She shouted. Her voice had reverberated throughout the room until it died down into silence that stretched on for several long seconds.

I just blinked at her while she glared at me. I wondered if I had heard right while she probably wondered what the heck was wrong with me.

And then she snapped her fingers in front of my face and growled, "I said I'll answer your questions. But you ain't gettin' jack if you expect me to read your mind."

"Why are you so mean to me?" The first question had burst from my mouth before any of the other burning ones could escape, fighting to be uttered. Why it was that question that was first I still don't know because I had more important questions to ask, more important answers to weasel out of her.

"Because you're annoying."

Her sharp answer had stung, but I had challenged her response anyway. "How so?"

Kira never really answered the first question. Even now I don't know why she said that she found me annoying. If I were so annoying she wouldn't have joined the second division.

"Dude you asked, I answered. If you don't like it-"

"So you're going to answer all of my questions?" I had put emphasis on the word all because there were a lot of questions that needed answers.

"No." She had very quickly and forcefully answered. "You've got twenty, so make 'em good."

"Do the last few count?" I asked worried that they did. Because if they did then I'd have to weed out the less important questions.

"If you keep asking stupid questions like that then they're gonna start counting." Kira grumbled not even perturbed by the fact that I had so rudely interrupted her.

That day I had wanted to grab her shoulders and slam my mouth against her's. I had witnessed that it was a surefire way to make someone shut up. It was also a surefire way to get to punched but the bruise would have been worth it. The only reason I hadn't done so was because I was the son of the devil and she deserved to love someone better than that. I didn't want her to return my feelings as much as I wished she would.

_So today I was quite generous, the entry following my questions began, having been titled 20 Q's at the top of the page, read. I gave Ace the chance to cut me open and take a look at my insides. That's exactly what he did without a bit of hesitation. I hate to admit it but today I learned what those charmed snakes feel like, unable to resist the charmer's…well charm, for lack of better word. Do I regret spilling? Yes. Do I regret spilling to Ace? I honestly don't know. It's Ace and I made him promise on his brother's life that he wouldn't tell a soul. But at the same time I've opened myself up to someone, I've grown attracted to someone. Roots are starting to grow and that's something I cannot have if I wish to leave when I can._

Neither of us were prepared for the storm that was heading our way. We didn't realize that our walls would crumble under the pressure and that our resolves would be shaken to the core.

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I certainly hope you enjoyed The Girl I Once Knew chapter 2. Thanks for taking your time to read this fic. : )

I'd love to hear what y'all thought of it. If you liked it, if you didn't like it. If I screwed up somewhere in the sentences and think it would sound better written a different way.


	3. Chapter 3

I sat up with a jolt and looked up at the sky with a curse. I had fallen asleep. Well not fallen, more like asleep had attacked me and I had no choice but to submit to it and randomly fall asleep. I now had very little daylight, thirty minutes at best, left to finish the journal and I was just barely half way through the thing! While there was nothing to stop me from racing time itself and trying to finish the journal before I ran out of light, though I refused to venture down memory lane at a pace that was faster than I wanted to go. Not only that but I had a feeling that time was going to get the better of me.

Slowly, as the light drained from the sky, I brought the journal closer and closer to my face until no matter how much squinting I did at the page I could no longer read the writing I partially knew by heart. So I dog-eared the page, closed it carefully and put it into my bag, only after I found that sandwich, which I had apparently pulled out before the journal, and put everything back in.

Once the bag was safe and sound on my back, I unwrapped the sandwich and as I ate it, sped towards the Moby Dick, finishing it in a number of large bites and just a few seconds.

Above me the stars twinkled as brightly as they always have and the wind tried it's hardest to chill me to the bone. But I made it to the ship as unfrozen as one could possibly be. I wasted no time grabbing yet another bite to eat and then getting to my room where I could finish the trip down memory lane, where I could finish reading Kira's journal.

I settled myself on my bed, legs folded and journal open in the middle. An open bag of chips rested at my side and occasionally my hand would slowly creep into the plastic bag, find purchase on a chip and then sneak the salty potato slice up to my mouth. That hand did not touch the pages of the journal, I didn't want to smear the writing or ruin any of the pages with the grease and salt.

Once I was comfortable and everything was as it should have been I continued reading, I continued my trip down memory lane.

The months following Kira getting lost, the weeks following 'the questioning' things changed…drastically. I still don't know exactly what happened, even now. There's nothing exact to try to pinpoint.

One moment Kira was an iron vault, sharing no more information than was necessary, telling no more than what the question's answer required, and from what I understand from various 'diary' entries, she even made up lies to keep the distance between herself and the crew. The less they knew of her real self the less of an attachment she'd have to them and them to her. Well those were her words. And then the next moment, before I knew what had happened, she was just the opposite.

Thankfully I hadn't been the only one who had noticed the difference. The crew had too but their observances hadn't mattered since the 'couple incident'. Rather that's what we had convinced ourselves of. Kira noticed the change as well and even wrote about it, very subtly at first but slowly she began to say the words until she outright admitted that something was different.

_I'm not going to say that being a pirate is easy, because it's not. But it's fun. Strange words to throw together but I love these people really I do. And as much of a problem as that is I've decided that I'll worry about leaving when the time comes. After all enjoying myself and devoting myself to the family is the least I could do for Pops, who saved me from a storm I hadn't been prepared for. _

_Well that's what Marco calmly told me after I came back from a few day disappearance. I had left because I had caught wind of some news pertaining to the Hara Pirates. Turned out the information was no good and so I returned. I don't know why he was awake but he was and to be honest I'm glad he said what he had to me. I think that's when I decided to change my attitude and open up. I could be wrong but it's the only thing I can think of._

Up until reading the journal I hadn't a clue that she had ran off, I had thought that we just hadn't crossed paths for four whole days…silly but that's what I had thought. I hadn't known that she had intended to leave us. It had occurred to me after reading that entry that I could have never seen Kira again. And despite the pain of her departure, despite how painful it still is, I'd rather to have known and loved Kira for a period of time, no matter how short, than to have never known her or her love. She had healed parts of me that I had thought were healed. And I'd like to think that I had healed parts of her that hadn't fully healed yet. I don't know if it's true but it's what I'd like to think.

And while I had asked her about her past, I hadn't asked why we had found her floating in the treacherous waters of the New World, just like I never asked her why she had left for those four days. I remember having just been so glad that she was back that I hadn't pressed the subject, after all some things were better left to ones imaginations.

However, on that day of questioning, I had learned that the pirate crew was one of three of the Hara Pirates; there was the Takehara Pirates, who no longer existed, the Hara Pirates and the Shohara Pirates. She said that the crew was the reason for a loss of something very dear to her, but that's all she had offered me and I hadn't pried at the time. Not only had that question been my last one but I knew how it felt to lose someone dear to them and it was better if some wounds were just left alone. And even though I had still a mile long list of things I wanted answered that day I had respected the twenty question thing, however I did try to get the answers at random times after that.

Even though we never out right said that we 'liked' each other we knew that we did. We knew that the other was feeling things that were beyond the scope of things one should feel towards their friends. And for a while I just went with it, even though the thoughts of my bloodline were torturing me.

Surely I'm not good enough for Kira.

She deserved someone better. Someone much better than me.

I can't give her what she wants, whatever that is.

She would be happier with someone who wasn't the son of the devil himself.

I'm not the right guy for her.

My brain constantly made these things up. It constantly told me these things. And who was I to doubt it? Who was I to not believe myself?

In my mind the scene had played out in disturbing clarity. I wouldn't tell Kira about the blood running in my veins but through some error of the gods, or of the crew, she'd find out. She'd then get this look on her face, one of repulsion and then she'd flee like children from creepy crawlies. After that Kira would avoid me. She would refuse to laugh with or at me. She'd refuse to smile or brighten my day. Hell she'd try her hardest to keep out of my sight, to keep away from me.

That's what I had convinced myself of. I was convinced that's how things would go if she ever found out. And so even when I was smiling I was being tortured, trying to figure out a way to let her down gently. When I was laughing I was trying to enjoy every second to its fullest capacity.

My thoughts weren't the only problem however. My heart wanted her. It wanted me to keep her at my side, to keep her warm at night. My heart was selfish and wanted me to be the reason she got up every morning, the reason she didn't leave the crew or the ship.

Even though we were spending time together just because we wanted to, not because I had to come up with lame reasons to keep her within my company, this internal war was being raged. What I hadn't been aware of was that I wasn't the only one acting while my insides were duking it out.

_I have issues._ One entry read. _He won't want to deal with everything I keep out of sight._ Kira confessed to the unresponsive paper.

_Ace won't like the sides of me he's yet to see._ Another entry declared. Those insecure entries were a side of Kira that I had never known. Up until that point of knowing her she had always been fiery, rough and very strong willed. She'd correct you without a second's hesitation, she'd be brutally honest at the worse possible times and she…insecure was something I had never imagined that she'd be.

_I can't be selfish and allow him to commit himself to me and then just leave._ Kira had written. When I had read that argument I had laughed out loud. She couldn't have been serious. That's exactly what she had done.

But who was I kidding?

I had been just as selfish as she had. I had wanted her and she had wanted me and that was good enough for us.

And so we had allowed ourselves to go on like that, like nothing was wrong.

But finally I had enough. I could take it no longer.

I had just about driven myself insane and could not go on any longer until I had gotten if off of my chest. I was being cowardly for not telling her right off the bat and for allowing things to get as far as they had gotten. The ball was already rolling and stopping it would be hard. I should have told her before we got involved, before we had found the other out, before feelings and awareness had arisen.

I had been trying to plan things out, find the best time to tell her, the best place. In my room late at night, while staring up at the ceiling I would practice what exactly I'd say to her, what was the best way to tell her.

But despite all my careful planning it all went to pot when I passed her in the hall. She sharply inclined her head with a smile aimed at me as she passed with a brief greeting. She was going to simply pass me and be on her way. But my hands reached out and grabbed her shoulders as my feet stepping to the side so that I was blocking her path up the stairs just behind me.

Her brow furrowed and she gave me this confused look as she began asking a question. I don't remember what it was she had asked exactly but I know that she hadn't gotten to fully ask it because I interrupted her with the words, "I have something important to tell you."

Maybe she saw the urgency in my eyes, in my expression, or maybe my grip was too tight but she seemed nervous but agreed to hear me out. Even if she hadn't agreed she'd have had no choice to listen to the important thing I had to tell her. Of course I was happy that I didn't have to force her to do anything she didn't want to do.

Despite the rehearsal of the things I would say to Kira, despite the elaborate ways to get my message across I had come up with my mouth had spat out the most obvious and blunt words possible.

"Through my veins the blood of the devil flows."

"Of course. You've eaten a devil fruit." I remember her saying.

With my hands still on her shoulders I had turned her body and pushed her roughly into the wall. Not so roughly that she cried out, just rough enough to get a dirty look.

Irritation had my heart slamming against my ribcage as I leaned in real close.

Things were going all wrong.

It's not how I had visualized this going.

This was worse.

I was irritated and desperate, never a good combination. Not only that but Kira was confused and probably mad at me. She was probably irritated that I had trapped her against a wall and that I was so close, invading her personal space. Kira had probably been itching to smack some sense into me. And to be honest I could have used some sense then.

I knew that I must have looked rather frightening. But I wanted her to get the message so I made no move to change neither my demeanor nor the grip on her shoulder. Then, to make matters worse, my voice had gotten hard, and when I spoke next it came out in this dark tone of voice I hadn't meant to use. "I don't think you understood me." There was a pause and in her green eyes I could see her gears turning behind her bright irises. She opened her mouth to speak but I hadn't allowed a sound to escape past her lips. "I said I have the blood of the devil in my veins. I was born of the devil. Does the name Gold Roger ring a bell?"

Audibly I heard her gulp.

I knew it!

I could feel her trembling in my grasp and the moment I let her go she was going to run off. She was going to call me a monster and tell me to never even think about her again. Or maybe she'd lash out and then flee. But either way I had done something that was irrevocable.

And then she spoke. "I-I heard you…just fine the first t-time." her voice shook with fear that matched that which was in her eyes. Then her expression transformed and the fear was wiped clean. There was not a trace of it left in her expression, even though her body trembled against mine. "I don't see the problem here."

Her words had shaken me but I hadn't let it show and instead asked, "Don't tell me you'd be willing to love the devils spawn." I growled out those words narrowing my eyes at her. The devil didn't deserve to be loved. And even though I wasn't the devil himself I was pretty damn close.

And then something even more unexpected than the events of the past few minutes happened. Kira rushed forwards, her arms snaking around my torso, the quiet words, "Oh Ace." Could be heard as she wrapped her arms around me and pressed her cheek against my collar bone.

Before I could react someone came down the stairs, stopping when we came into sight. It was Thatch who grinned suggestively at me and made the 'ok' sign with his fingers before proceeding around us. I don't think Kira ever found out about the brief interruption and it was probably better if she remained ignorant. It wasn't like I could go to her room and tell her this 'funny story about the time I told you who my father was'.

I mean I could go to her room and talk but there was no one there to hear me.

"Why aren't you running?" The question made itself know before I could even attempt to hold it in. I had been fighting to regain control of the situation but that just hadn't worked for me at that moment.

In the midst of my inner struggle I heard the words, "The better question is why do you expect me to run?" Kira's voice was quiet.

And stupidly I just stood there, gaping like a fish out of water. Her question left my mind scrambling for some kind of put down, my stomach doing hopeful flips in my stomach while my heart tried to reason that she didn't fully comprehend what I had just told her, it tried to tell me that surely she didn't fully grasp the situation. She didn't understand who her arms were wrapped around.

I scrambled to find an answer to her question or even a question that was better than the one she had asked.

Why did I expect her to run?

I was the devils spawn,

A demon,

A thief and even a murderer,

And she wanted to know why I expected her to run.

Her grip loosened and Kira pulled away. And when I wouldn't make eye contact with her she unwrapped her arms from around me and lifted them up to my face so that my cheeks were firmly pressed between her hands. From there she tilted my head down mad forced the contact I had refused to make.

It had been quiet. There had been no noise from the deck above or the rooms that lined the hallway. There hadn't been a single noise from the hallway, it was perfectly silent. The air was perfectly still, stirred by only our shallow breathing. For what felt like forever we stood there searching each other's souls. I will never be able to say exactly what it was Kira was searching for but I was desperately searching for a flicker of fear, a glimmer of doubt, a chink in her armor. And while I was praying that I wouldn't see those things in her eyes, somewhere in the back of my mind, I wanted to find the fear, the doubt, the resentment I had seen in so many other's eyes. Things would be easier if I could find a reason to push her away.

Then, out of nowhere, Kira's hands slipped down my chest and then she launched herself at me, her body colliding with mine as her arms wrapped around my middle once again. Only this time I stumbled back a step or so, having not been prepared for the action. She hugged me tightly, her hands curling into fists at my back. Into my neck she said, "Oh you stupid, stupid boy."

Even then I still hadn't come up with something good to say. So there I remained speechless and at a loss for words. My arms dangled at my sides, the skin across my chest was pulled as tightly as it could go before it would rip, my stomach churned unpleasantly, and my thoughts raced. There was so much I wanted to say but I just find the right words to use.

"The demons of the past haunt you don't they?" It hadn't been much of a question. There had been no anger in her voice, no previous irritation, and most importantly no fear.

All I had been able to do was nod. I might have accepted Pops as my only father but that didn't change the fact that Roger's blood still ran rampant through my veins, that it filled my body.

"Do they haunt you too?" Like my earlier questions I hadn't meant to let that one slip. But unlike those questions I didn't regret having spoken those words.

Once again I heard Kira audibly swallow. But I also felt her nod her head and murmur the words, "Of course. We all have demons we battle."

Without warning my stomach growled, letting me know that it wanted to be filled once more. The sound had reverberated down the hallway and might have even been heard above on the deck. Sheepishly I scratched the back of my head, my eyes closed, and smiling apologetically. I hadn't been able to believe that had just really happened. I couldn't believe that my stomach had chosen a time like that to go and growl, and so loudly!

Embarrassed was an understatement. My face was blazing that much was for sure.

But to my surprise, Kira simply giggled and pulling away asked, "Hungry much?"

Nervously I let out a laugh and held up a hand, using my thumb and index finger to demonstrate my answer. "Just a bit."

Kira grabbed my hand and began pulling me down the hallway, a smile on her face. As I stumbled after her I think I heard the words "Let's fight out demons together."

I'm still not sure if she had said those words or if it had been my imagination making me hear things but I'd like to think that Kira had actually said that to me.

Regardless if it was my imagination or reality I think that was a turning point of our relationship.

The entry I next looked down and glanced at read, I think we're going somewhere.

* * *

**A/N:** Well now that I've gotten a few chapters written I really don't know how long this fic will be. I'm surprised I've gotten three decently sized chapters out of it thus far.

I certainly hope you enjoyed The Girl I Once Knew chapter 2. Thanks for taking your time to read this fic. : )

I'd love to hear what y'all thought of it. If you liked it, if you didn't like it. If I screwed up somewhere in the sentences and think it would sound better written a different way.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few pages complained about how I was trying to uncover her demons. Constantly, when no one was listening, or I had a moment to hiss into her ear, I whispered the words, "I can't fight what I don't know." But that wasn't entirely true of course.

I only said that so that she knew that her demons weren't going to stay hidden for much longer. It was only fair that I knew of the demons that I was helping her fight. And so for those several days I bothered her. I'll admit it I harassed her and made a point of pestering Kira. But as persistent as I was she was just as stubborn.

_**GOD ACE STOP BOTHERING ME! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!**_

The third entry pertaining to me pestering her screamed in bold letters that left imprints carved into the next few pages.

_I will **NOT** tell you, or anyone else for that matter, about my demons. Just know that I'd appreciate a little blind faith._

I remember that Kira had quoted those words in a loud voice that had drawn the attention of the crew, who had been minding their own business. Later I got some questions about it but I had brushed them away as though there was nothing wrong, nothing going on.

The silence after those words had reigned like a fierce emperor once her shouts had faded out of the air. With eyes ablaze and fists clenched she had glared at me. So desperately she had wanted me to get a clue and get the message that she wasn't going to tell me jack.

But I had sat down, opened a vein and bore my insides just days before. Should I not expect the same from her? Was it too much to ask to know what I was fighting? Did she think I could help her to the best of my abilities if I had my hands tied behind my back?

"We cannot fight our demons together if you leave me in the dark." I had told her. Desperately I wanted her to understand that in order to be a team she had to open up and show me her darkest parts.

But those words must have struck a nerve because her eyes had widened. Unfortunately before I had been able to see her full reaction she had spun on her heel in a flurry of plaid cloth and auburn hair. In her wake quiet unintelligible mutterings were left. I had reached out to catch the back of her unbuttoned button up shirt, to stop her, but I had missed and after that I had made no move to chase her down the hallway as I had been doing before she turned on me.

Living in the moment I had been so ignorant. I hadn't thought that she had reasons, that the demons we were supposed to be fighting were viciously gnawing away at her insides. I hadn't realized that the weight on her chest hadn't been yet been lifted like mine had. Of course I still had my fears and doubts but Kira had given my heart hope, and so desperately I wanted to return the favor, so much so that I had unknowingly been driving her to tears at night.

I had found that our the night after our little 'fight', if that's even what it could be called, in the hallway I had mindlessly burst into her room. For what, the reason alludes me. Whatever it had been had fled from my mind at the sight of Kira sitting on her bed, her face pressed to her knees, her shoulders shaking.

The entry that followed the rather painful memory read like this,

_I really want to tell you Ace, really I do. You deserve it, really you do. I just don't know where to start. You hate your biological father; I killed both of my parents because it's what they had begged me to do. He has a younger brother, one in which he loves greatly and hasn't turned his back on; but me, I've abandon Mika and Kami on a widows doorstep and then hitched a ride off of that island as soon as I could._

_I've been so close to telling you all of this Ace, and trust me there's been times where I've been only a breath away from confessing all of this to you. But you don't understand Ace, every time I'm about to tell you all I can see is your reaction. It won't be good, especially when I tell you what I did to my baby brothers. You'll turn your back on me after giving me this look. You'll then avoid me because of what I have done. I don't know if you understand this but I'm unsure of what to do. So badly I want to tell you. But at the same time I want to protect myself, and how can I do that if I cut myself open and allow you to take a look at what's really inside?_

_I'm scared Ace._

_I'm sorry._

_Fear always brings out the worst in me._

Splattering that page were the ghosts of the tears that I had caused her to shed. Just the knowledge that I had made her cry constricted my heart. I felt horrible even though it had been so long ago. The first time I had read this entry the feeling that had come over me was just indescribable.

"I'm sorry." I muttered aloud. I had uttered those words the first time I had read this particular journal entry and had done it every time I read it. It was an apology that would never reach her ears. It wasn't like it wasn't far too late for an apology anyways. But I said it regardless.

After a second of silence I shook my head and continued on.

It seemed that Kira hadn't seen or heard my abrupt entrance, even though the door had slammed against the wall and bounced back. I hadn't entered stealthily either. The only hint that gave away her knowledge of my intrusion was that her sobs had been stifled and her shoulders' shaking had been reduced to almost unnoticeable.

It had taken me a second to realize that Kira was crying and when I realized that I also realized that words would have gotten in the way, they would have enlarged the void that was already between the two of us. So instead I crept over to her bed and sat down next to her.

Still she didn't respond.

So quietly I kicked my shoes off and sat next to her, my feet on her bed. As I had put my hand on her back Kira had muttered something, probably something along the lines of 'leave me alone, but since I hadn't caught what she had said I began rubbing comforting circles on her back. Quietly I murmured things to her, it was a bunch of nonsense if I were to be completely honest, but at the time what I had said had made sense.

Quietly she sobbed into her knees even though I was so close. And for a long time that's how it stayed. I rubbed circles into her back and she sobbed, ignoring my presence and refusing my efforts.

With the door open the crew was free to stop by and peer into the room with eyes alight with curiosity that I would later satisfy, like it or not, and furrowed brows that showed their concern for the crying girl at my side. But I silently I shooed them on. Thankfully they obeyed and continued on their ways, making their pause unknown to Kira; things of course were better that way, better if she didn't know that others had witnessed her in a moment of weakness.

After some time however Kira uncurled from the ball she had been in and pressed her wet face into the crook of my neck. Her arms wrapping tightly around my torso as she shifted positions.

I still don't know the reason for the sudden change but I didn't question it then and now, I don't quite care. I also don't know if she heard the sizzling sound of her tears hitting my skin. Under different circumstances I believe that Kira would have laughed at the sound and the fact that I sizzle, and maybe one day she'd get the chance to laugh at me but if she heard it now, she showed no signs of it.

What I do know is that I simply remained where I was, silently, rubbing her back as I had been the entirety of my visit to her room on that night. For a while longer it was louder than it had been, but quiet by normal standards.

The sobs that broke the silence turned into vocal but unintelligible gasps and attempts to choke something out. "I-I'm. . . s-so. . .sor-ry." I remember how her voice had cracked. Even the mere echo of the words were just as gut wrenching as they had been when they had been much more than a hoarse whisper.

"For what?" I recall having asked, having been very confused as to why she'd possibly chose to say those words, perplexed even.

"I-I," Hic, "I want…t-to…so ba-badly tell…," Hic, "you. B-but…you- you'll hate me… if…if I do." Kira had successfully worked herself back into hysterias. She had been so close to having calmed herself down but there wasn't anything I could have done differently.

As hysteric as she was I had grown quite alarmed. Her breathing was of course irregular, disrupted by hiccups that jarred her entire body and even shook the bed. She wasn't exactly happy with herself, for she was quietly growling from time to time; at least I think she was… But that wasn't the only reason that caused alarm.

Imagine knowing someone who is strong willed, as stubborn as an ox, as tough as nails, fist wielding, quick tempered and at times very proud, just falling to pieces in your arms and not understanding why.

It's a very alarming, to say the least, experience. That day I saw a side of Kira that she would never willingly show me again, in fact after that I only saw her break down into a complete and utter mess like that only once.

"They're tormenting you aren't they?" I had whispered once it had clicked. I was glad that I hadn't about to say what had been at the tip of my tongue. I felt her nod her head and I held my breath. I couldn't tell her to hurry up; I understood how hard this was. So all I said was "Tell me when you're ready."

"B-but you…you'll-"

"I won't." I interrupted Kira before she could finish her sentence. I wouldn't dare do any of the things she imagined that I'd do.

"Promise?" She questioned shakily.

Forgetting that she couldn't see me I had nodded. And then, looking down at the top of her head I pulled away, placed a finger under her chin and lifted her head so that she could see into my soul. "I promise."

Never in a million years would I have broken that promise either.

A watery smile wavered on her lips at the news. Silently she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and then proceeded to run at my wet skin.

I had laughed at her. "Don't worry about it." Some tears and a bit of snot wouldn't kill me. I had been covered in worse.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." I confirmed with another nod.

She then layed her cheek against my shoulder and closed her green eyes. Without thinking I reached up from her back and stroked her hair.

We must have fallen asleep because the next time I opened my eyes light was flooding in from the porthole in the room, it was day time already. Blinking sleep from my eyes I realized that Kira was no longer at my side but instead on top of me. Her calloused hands were planted on my chest, each knee was on either side of my waist, her face far too close for comfort, so close that once I realized it was there I had jerked back.

Laughing she had sat back so that she was sitting on my legs. And once she was out of my face she merely said, "I'm ready."

The reason I remember that so clearly is because my face had gotten red hot, apparently it had gotten redder than red. For weeks I would be teased for my reaction to those words. I live with a bunch of men, what had Kira been expecting when she had asked that question? It didn't help that there were mutual feelings between us, who knows; maybe her mind might have been filled with THOSE thoughts.

After a not to well stifled giggle she said, "I apologize for what happened last night. You could have left you know."

I disagreed and had voiced my opinion. We were so stubborn that we began an argument about if I could have left or not. See she thought that I could have gotten up and left at any point if I so wished, though that was probably her pride speaking there, and I insisted that I couldn't have. She then thought that I had felt obliged. I hadn't. So for about thirty or so minutes we butted heads.

That was until she haughtily crossed her arms over her chest and huffily asked, "Do you want me to tell you 'bout the demons that torment me so or not?"

At that the argument was over. Well it wasn't over; rather it was dropped like a devil fruit user drops sea stone.

"Are you ready?" I recall having asked despite the fact that she had already said that she was. But I hadn't wanted to rush her; I didn't want Kira thinking that she had to spill her guts if she wasn't ready. I certainly was but that's not what mattered at the minute.

"I already to you that I am."

"Then I'm all ears." And that's how I got my answers. Well that's how I learned about Kira's demons, with the girl sitting on my lap, facing me.

Apparently I wasn't a good listener though because unknowingly I had quite a few episodes. But she hadn't once scolded, berated or beat me for having a few of them.

The next entry revealed her frustration.

_Five times Ace let his stupid sleeping 'disease' get the best of him. Jeez! I let him sleep until he woke up so why he had five episodes I haven't a clue. But I'm glad I got it off my chest. I don't know why I was so scared. When I was done telling my story Ace actually smiled, told me that we all make mistakes, that I did what was best for the twins and then pulled me towards him._

_I had been so scared that he was going to kiss me that I think my heart is still racing._

I'm quite a selfish person at times and every time I read that line it makes me smile. That line always made me think of all of the kisses we had shared. I could always almost feel her lips pressing against mine or me pressing mine agaisnt her skin. What Kira didn't know was that I had been considering planting a brief one on her lips but had thought better of it.

_But he kissed me on the forehead, asked if I felt better and once I said yes he grinned that sloppy carefree grin of his at me, ruffled my hair and told me that our demons don't stand a chance._

After our talk I went up to the deck, Kira claiming that she had something else to do, I think she claimed that she wanted to shower but I'm not for sure anymore. She didn't write it in down and her journal was why I could remember things so vividly, why I could recall conversations and events I had long forgotten.

Once on the deck I was jumped by the crew. Thatch, having caught me on the stair up to the deck, had his arm thrown around my shoulder. Bright light flooded my vision, fresh air filled my lungs and a million questions filled my ears.

"I heard you slept with the new girl." Teach said pushing his way through the crowd that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

"Where'd you hear that" I had glared at most of the faces in the crowd, trying to pinpoint the culprit but no one stood out to me.

"So you did?" Someone else asked.

"Yeah, we slept." We had done more than sleep but not what they thought we had done. The door had been open, were they blind? Kira had cried and slobbered all over me, not that I mind, and we had slept but that wasn't the sleeping with they were referring to, that they wanted the details to.

"Really?" Thatch asked, his voice deflating just as much, if not more than the expressions of the crew.

"Yeah. Really." There was a pause, where disappointment had been think in the air before I added, "And besides even if I-we were to…do that, I wouldn't tell you." Kira would kill me if I went around boasting about our experience in bed. It wasn't as though I'd ever tell anyone that we had slept together. There was nothing decent or polite in doing so. In fact it was quite rude.

But Thatch merely laughed and slapped me on the chest saying, "You won't have to We'll be able to tell."

I don't remember what exactly happened after that but I do remember that there were some threats thrown about until I was positive that they wouldn't go around singing to the world mine and Kira's business. It wasn't as though either of us were just going to hop into bed and have at it because we may or may not 'be official' as of now. Actually I don't even know when we 'got together' it was always more of a mutual agreement. I liked her and she liked me and 'the confession' was all there had to be said on the subject.

* * *

The entries following Kira's breakdown and the confession of her demons were dedicated to describing the adventures she had, the ones she was dragged into and the ones she had dragged us into, us being any member or members of the Whitebeard Pirates. And trust me, the number of instances for both were just about even.

You see we weren't the only ones capable of causing problems, creating messes and getting into trouble. Kira's strong personality, outspoken manner, iron will and, reliance on her fist didn't go over well with many people, so trouble tended to find her. Sometimes though I think Kira went looking for trouble when it didn't seek her out. I found the hard way that she was an adrenaline junky, constantly seeking thrills and danger. So being chased by anything with legs, angry mobs, marines, civilians or wild, snarling animals, was something she considered 'fun'. Of course I thought that she was crazy and her thrill seeking had launched us into MANY arguments because she either just narrowly escaped, she didn't and then needed our help to get out of it, or she'd narrowly escape death, and that never went over too well with me because I didn't want to lose her.

Even knowing what I know now, I still would have had those arguments with Kira, we would have had those yelling matches that were never about how loudly we could yell at each other but who would cave first, who would calm down first and decide that we needed a breather before we discussed the subject again.

But I think that Kira's crazy, her thrill seeking was one of the reasons that she fit in so well with the crew. She was bat shit crazy and we all knew it. We loved her for it.

Some of her entries depicted vivid images of islands we docked on or stopped at. Some pages were dedicated to drawings of the islands, their plant and their animal life. Between those pages were random scales, tuffs of hair, strips of skin and pressed flowers which had struck her fancy at the time she had gathered whatever it was that was glues into the journal. Some of those things I had given her…the flowers at least. However I had once given her a fang from some sort of snake, Kira had loved it, saying that she'd poison someone the first chance she got. Conveniently it had gone missing a few days later. I don't think she ever found out that someone had stolen it and tossed it overboard.

Coughmecoughcough

More pictures of the crew had been taken of the crew and once again some were missing. Only this time I had replaced Kira's missing copies with the ones I had stored away in the bottom of my dresser.

Kira's emotions of the day or of the week were of course briefly noted before she moved on to other things like the islands and the plants or our adventures.

And I don't mean to boast, for it's kind of sad, but with just a glance at Kira's handwriting, not the words and not the bold she oftentimes used, I could tell her mood at the time of the documenting of the day, or of the week or of even the last month.

The faster she had written something the less legible it was, the angrier or more excited she had been at the time of writing. When she was mad however she pressed harder and used more bold lettering, exclamation points, and lines, in contrast to when she was excited and everything was more or less on blur of lines and maybe a few distinguishable letters. In fact most of the first time reading this journal was spent trying to decipher the words.

The neater Kira's writing was the better of a mood she was in, unless of course she was excited, then she just scribbled and legibility went to the dogs. I've read this the journal in my hands so many times that I had picked up on those minute details.

**_I got it! I got it! I finally fucking got it!_**

Exclaimed an entry in bold, efficiently grabbing my attention amongst all of the island pages with animal fur, exotic plants she'd never see again and sketches. It made me smile though because in my mind I could all but see Kira literally jumping for joy. The smile on her face that day was the brightest smile I had ever seen on her face. In fact it was the brightest smile I would ever see grace her face.

The crew had thrown her a party after she 'got it', it was for two reasons, one to celebrate Kira becoming 'official', and two was just another reason to party and party hard.

That day Kira had hugged any and everyone in sight.

Her shirt was black in color, long sleeved and falling off of both shoulders. The neckline was modest and under it was a sleeveless tank top so no one got an eyeful if and when she bent over or was fighting. So the decision to ink her shoulder with the families insignia came as no surprise. The funny thing was that she didn't want a smaller one, a less painless tattoo. No, no matter how people advised her to get it, from their own experience and the experiences of watching others, or how they suggested things, Kira insisted on getting one about half the size of mine, still considerably large, and placing it at an angle on her left shoulder.

When it was done the cross bones sprawled down her chest, across her collar down, down her arm and over her shoulder and onto her back. The skull grinned lopsidedly at anyone who took a look at the tattoo or admired the handiwork of our tattoo artist Gale; the moustache of the skull disappeared into the V like neckline of her shirt.

You could tell that she was proud of it, glowing like a mother who was proud of her child. She was grinning from ear to ear and for once Kira was absolutely speechless, something that rarely happens.

**_There's no hiding it! Which is just how I wanted it! :D_**

Those two lines were all that entry consisted of but it was enough for spur on the memory of the party and the fun we had that night. And even though the next day we woke up hung over, with fragmented memories, and a huge mess to clean up we know that we had a bunch of fun, that it was an unforgettable night. Now if only that night was less of a jigsaw puzzle.

You see, another thing about Kira was that the more excited she was, the less word's she usually had either to say or to write.

I flipped the page and skimmed the next few entries, not actually stopping to read them. I turned a few more pages before another entry caught my attention. Like every other entry, it was dated and titled in the blank space above the lines. Its title this time consisted of three question marks.

_Do normal couples fight this much?_ Kira questioned only in ink.

Never had I heard her ask that question, not to me or to any other member of the crew. But she hadn't been the only one wondering, because past relationships I had, well we never did what me and Kira did. But Marco said it was fine and to stop worrying because Kira and I were just being ourselves, we were merely being Kira and Ace. And so I had stopped fretting over if somehow things weren't how they were supposed to be.

_We're a couple, at least I'm 90% sure we are._

90% sure?! If I had known that I would have asked her to be mine, I would have made sure that there was not a doubt in her mind. Her being 90% sure meant that she had been 10% unsure and that never ceased to render me speechless.

_I mean we act like it. But that's only half of the time. The other half of the time we're fighting, and I don't mean sparing to keep our skills sharp or roughhousing just 'cuz we can kind of fighting. I mean yelling. Screaming until our throats hurt, shouting until our voices became hoarse and hollering until we woke the crew, who put a stop to what we refuse end on our own._

We argued a lot. We had a lot of yelling matches galore. They were always random, about nothing of any importance, sporadic. The strange thing was that Kira had never mentioned any of the times that my temper wasn't the only thing that flared. Kira never elaborated on our fights, never explained what they were about in writing, and now I can't remember what stupid things we had fought over. They couldn't have been of any worth because we were fine within the hour and things were back to how they always were.

_I've been in other relationships and we never yelled or even argued this much. Disagreements never escalated into battles of pride and reluctance to back down or give in. And maybe Ace only yells back because I yelled at him first…_

_But you know those boy's couldn't handle me or our relationship, so of course they never lasted very long, they never got too far. So we must be doing something right because there's no sight of the dreaded end._

Just because the end wasn't yet in sight it didn't mean that it wouldn't come.

* * *

**A/N**: Well now that I've gotten a few chapters written I really don't know how long this fic will be. I'm surprised I've gotten three decently sized chapters out of it thus far. Though a fair warning it probably won't be much longer… I like the swastika, or manga, version of the Whitebeard Pirate's jolly roger better because it means peace and really I think it fits that crew quite well.

I certainly hope you enjoyed The Girl I Once Knew chapter 3. Thanks for taking your time to read this fic. : )

I'd love to hear what y'all thought of it. If you liked it, if you didn't like it. If I screwed up somewhere in the sentences and think it would sound better written a different way.


	5. Chapter 5

_**How the hell did this happen?!** _Kira raged in dark ink. This of course was the title of the next entry I flipped to.

Sticking out from between the pages of the journal was a yellowed piece of paper. I pulled it out and unfolded. The picture, the name, the number and the fine print reminded me that it was one of her many wanted posters. When I first came across the paper I remember thinking, 'so this is where this went'.

_I wanna know what sleazy photographer was who was too cowardly to face me and snap a shot and chose to take a picture of me in the hot springs!_

Kira had been beyond furious when I had shown her new, as of then, wanted poster.

That morning I had found myself waking up in the crowsnest, when something smacked me in the face. Upon figuring out that that something was the paper I opened it, only to have several papers flutter out of the paper and into my lap, which captured my attention before the headlines had the chance.

Gathering the papers into a neat stack I had thumbed through them, smiling and planning to show them to the crew and maybe even throw a party to celebrate a rising in our bounties, which of course rose quite often. But a party was a party and no one cared why we did it as long as we had a reason, or half of one. And I knew for sure that this was at least half of a reason.

But then I came across a new poster. At first it had seemed completely out of place. But once I realized whose it was I pulled it out of the stack and placed it at the front to study it closer.

The picture was that of a young girl, my age or so, with reddish auburn hair that hung down her smooth, pale back, reaching the bottom of her shoulder blades. The girl was looking over her shoulder with an expression that read 'huh?'. Obviously she had yet to figure out that someone was peeking at her and taking pictures. She looked so innocent, so unsuspecting. Hell she even looked vulnerable, a feat that was hard to accomplish. In the background, steam rose from the water, obscuring the rest of the hot springs.

My face blazed as I looked at the picture because obviously Kira was in the hot springs and naked none the less. Through the embarrassment there was a flash of anger. For the briefest of seconds I wanted to find the bastard that had been so rudely peeking at Kira and her body and make sure that he wouldn't do that to any girl again.

You know now that I think about it I'm surprised that we didn't get the idea to do that ourselves.

And then the second passed.

I had never once been told of Kira's full name, never had I bothered asking her about it, and so the printed letters that read Sayome Kira had seemed so strange, so foreign at the time. I had even tried to mutter Sayome aloud to see if it sounded better if spoken aloud but, even then it hadn't seemed right.

But then, all of the sudden, I remembered that I still had Kira's wanted poster from that woman in my pocket. So I pulled it out and began comparing the two posters. And when I held them next to each other I noticed that the name at the bottom was printed just the same on both of them. Somehow I hadn't noticed it before when I had looked at the poster.

The pictures were so different, each showing contrasting images of Kira. Though, I must say that the first one was the most accurate because that one had captured her essence almost perfectly. She was ferocious, with clothes on and a more appropriate setting in the first image. In the second one she almost looked like a princess that needed to be protected, which was as far from the truth as one could possibly get.

But then I had gazed upon the numbers beneath the strange name with a proud smile stretched across my face. Without thinking about things, like how Kira might feel about that picture, I folded the older poster up, stuck it into my pocket and then leapt from the crowsnest and went to find the girl in both pictures.

Fortunately she was the very place I looked, her room. Carelessly I had thrown the closed door open and rushed in without so much as a warning knock. Instead of hearing a screech of surprise there was a growl of anger. And before I could fully comprehend what I had walked in on her fist had slammed into my jaw before I got an earful about bursting into her room while she was dressing.

But how was I supposed to have known? Her door was almost always closed, whether she was in it or not. How was I supposed to know that she would actually be in her room?

After she finished getting dressed in front of me I flapped the paper around her face, far too close for her to have read it, until she snatched it from my hands. Eagerly I had watched her green eyes dart across the page, taking in everything that was on it.

I watched her face turn bright red. As of now I had decided that it had been due to a dangerous mixture of rage and embarrassment. However, at the time I had been confused as to if she were as pissed as hell or merely mortified.

"W-what's this?!" She had shouted after a few of minutes of trying to find her voice.

I beamed happily at Kira and answered her question. "Your new wanted poster." What I should have done was get the heck out of doge. But the thing was that I was so proud of my little Kira.

"My what?!" She screeched in disbelief, eyes ablaze with fire that would've put the flames of hell to shame. I had just nodded, confirming with a smile that I wasn't lying. "Do you realized that this poster is…is all over the Grand Line and the New World?! Everyone's gonna see this!"

"So?" I hadn't seen the problem.

But stepping out of the memory and taking a look at the picture on the poster that had disappeared I understood why she had been so upset.

Stepping back into the memory I could just imagine her standing before me, her gripping the paper tightly in hand and indignantly echoing the word, "So?!" She had then let out a frustrated groan and said, "You obviously don't understand that everyone everywhere will see this." And then she had begun muttering things.

Unfortunately I had been able to understand most of them. They had been things like, When I find that damn bastard…, I'll…when I get my hands on that pervert…, His camera isn't going to be the only broken thing when I'm through with him…

There were a lot more threats that she had made before I had stopped her but those are the only ones I could slightly remember. As she ranted and raved, as if unaware of her surroundings, I had pulled the paper out of her hand and pointed to her name saying, "I didn't know your surname was Sayome."

That had made her snort. "Now you do Mr. Bright One. Besides it's not like it's important." That made me frown because for some unknown reason I thought that it was. But I hadn't argued. Instead I had pointed to the risen bounty. "Your bounty's risen 37,000 beli."

Those words had gotten her attention quick enough. Sharply Kira's head had snapped up, eyes still narrowed, and now at me. "does that mean you've gotten ahold of my last poster?"

"Yeah." I confessed easily enough.

There had been, still was, no reason to lie about it. It would just lead to another stupid argument. Lying was a pet peeve of Kira's and her fists tend to fly when she's discovered a liar.

Completely ignoring her bristling mood I reached out and ruffled her bedhead with a smile. "I'm proud of you kid."

That comment earned me a frown as she huffily knocked my hand from her hand. "Kid?" She scoffed at me. "I'm not much older than you." Of course she was trying to imply that she wasn't a kid because she was older than I.

But I doubted that.

There was no way she was older than me.

"You're younger." I blatantly told her.

"Am not." She argued.

"Are too."

Back and forth we argued, 'Am not.', 'Are too.', our voices steadily getting louder and louder until we were shouting at each other. But I was convinced that she was younger and she was convinced that I was younger by 'not that much', however long that was in Kira's mind, and that was the problem.

"NO!"

"YES!"

I remember quite vividly that somehow the, 'Are too.'s and the 'Are not.'s , had somehow turned into Yeses and Nos.

I also remember how Kira had randomly shouted, "I'm EIGHTEEN!" at the top of her lungs, in my face.

"I'm NINTEEN!" I had yelled at her louder than she had yelled at me because we were engaged in some kind of contest that we had both unknowingly agreed to participate in.

Somewhere during our yelling match the new wanted poster had somehow disappeared and I didn't know where it had taken off to until I cracked open this page of the journal.

The silence in the room had seemed deafening when compared to our shouts that could only go on as long as we could hold them, as long as we could make noise to fuel the loud noises. But the silence, it was crushing and ringing on and on as Kira merely blinked at me, confusion and disbelief clouding her eyes.

She had merely blinked at me until she had found her voice. "Since when?" She had planted her hands on her hips and glared at me as if trying to stare me down, as if she were trying to get me to break and confess to what she thought was a lie. But two could play that game.

And so we had a staring contest. It hadn't been the quiet game so I had said, "Since my last birthday."

"Oh?" She sneered. "And when was that?" Kira had question. She really didn't like losing and it was obvious that she wasn't about to win this. Not anymore.

"Last year." I flashed her a grin and we continued staring at one another.

That contest went on for quite a while. Neither of us were willing to back down, even if I was the obvious victor of that argument. We went on staring into each other's eyes until Kira's arms were lowered and she stopped glowering at me. "Look just make sure that no one sees the new poster."

"Why not?" I had asked, and not for the sake of asking another question and annoying the girl.

I had been so proud of her accomplishments and even though it was considerably lower than that of most of the crew it didn't matter. They would be proud of her as well. Not only that but they'd want proof if we wanted to be able to celebrate her first bounty increase as a Whitebeard Pirate.

"Don't you want them to see your bounty?" That was the only reason I would want to show the crew that poster.

"Yeah. But Ace, it's the picture, not the bounty."

"Oh. Hehe." I had scratched at the back of my head because I had forgotten about that part of the poster. "Alright. I'll try. But I'm sure they'll eventually see it."

Kira had smiled at me, this almost sad expression on her face. "I know. But let's delay that day." I didn't notice it until our toes were practically touching. I didn't notice Kira's slow migration closer to me. All of the sudden I realized that our chests were almost touching, that I could feel her breath lightly pass over my face, and that she was looking up at me. She lifted her hand, ran it up my arm and planted it on my shoulder before rising to her tiptoes and leaning in.

"Thanks." She whispered just before her lips brushed against my cheek. At that moment I had wanted to wrap my arms around her and show her what a kiss really was.

But I didn't and after a second she had pulled away. After that she brushed past me and then walked out of the room. I had watched her go and for the first time I wondered if she always moved like that.

I had hoped not because that meant that all of the guys were watching her leave or walk by.

Either way I made sure to keep the posters out of sight of the crew, as requested. However despite my best efforts I hadn't kept it from them for very long.

We were eating one day when someone's hand slammed down on the table, Sayome Kira's wanted poster smashed between the hand and the table. The look Kira had given Thatch had been priceless. He was loudly asking her about it and if he didn't shut up soon she was going to rip out his voice box and stomp on it. Unfortunately for Thatch he had missed the look. Fortunately for the rest of us he had missed that look and Kira had acted. The crew had come flocking to the galley to watch the spectacle.

The next entry after the retelling of that day was about a month later and closely linked to the conversation we had that day.

_The holidays are nearing, will be here in about three weeks, and apparently even pirates celebrate, as strange as that is. But I guess it's easier to celebrate when you're surrounded by friends- no family…nakama. Oh! Speaking of celebrating, I've found that Ace's birthday is exactly four months before mine, making it January 1st. I've been asking around for things to get Ace. But the only real thing I've been able to come up with is meat, a few tons of it and he'll be happy. But I'll that for him for Christmas, or whatever it is pirates celebrate. And if I do that then I can't get him more meat, no matter how much he might appreciate it, for his birthday…_

I remember that first Christmas with Kira. Unknowingly it would be the first of two.

The girl obviously hadn't been prepared for what had happened. She hadn't been prepared for a feast out on the deck, or to receive any gifts of any kind. In fact she hadn't been ready to drink herself into unconsciousness that night. But oh well. Prepared or not that's what had happened on Christmas night and New Years was still to come.

That night we had been so nervous and shy, like we had been at the start of our relationship. We were avoiding each other, while looking through the crowd for the other. We'd get close, exchange a few fragments of a conversation and then allow ourselves drift or get pulled away only to repeat the cycle several more times.

Eventually we had met on a quiet corner of the ship and struggled to find the right words, or any words for that matter.

But that wasn't till later. In the journal she was describing the week I had 'ran off', from her point of view. Mine was of course very different, but I'll get there later.

The title this time was the question,_ 'Where is Ace?'_

_I haven't a clue as to where you've gone off to Ace. The crew's tellin me that I shouldn't worry and I guess I won't since they so adamantly insist that I shouldn't. To be honest I think that they're hiding something from me. What? I don't know, but I smell something fishy going on. But whatever._

The funny thing was that they were indeed hiding something from Kira. I had told them not to tell her where I was going. After some teasing, for they had caught on and knew what I was doing, had a rough idea of where I was going and why I was disappearing, they finally agreed to keep her out of the loop. So when I read about her frustrations I was quite glad to find that they hadn't spilled a single bean.

I was worried that the item wouldn't be where I had spotted it anymore and that I'd have to find another gift for Kira. But in the end I had nothing to worry about.

When I had returned I had to wait till the dead of night to sneak back to my room just to be safe and sure that Kira wouldn't come out of her room and see me carrying anything. Actually I didn't want anyone to know so that no one would be able to try to give her subtle…or not so subtle…hints.

That morning when we crossed paths I was tackled. Her arms had squeezed me tightly. At the same time as she was squeezing the life out of me, the air out of my lungs, she hissed something about not disappearing on her like that again. I don't remember her exact words but I clearly remember her saying, 'I don't know how much time we have together.'

At the time I had thought that she was concerned about death and maybe even the Marines or other pirate crews. So I had returned her hug and told there that everything would be fine, that there was nothing to worry about. After all killing me would be no easy feat to accomplish.

But now, I knew exactly what she meant. I knew now that she had always been prepared to leave.

Sometimes I wished that I hadn't been so stupid. It certainly would have saved me a lot of heartache. And if I weren't so selfish, I could have saved Kira some heartache as well. I took a deep, shaky breath. It was thoughts like these that made reading her journal sometimes difficult to read.

I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, at the bottom of my heart, that there was no way in hell that leaving had been easy for Kira. However, it obviously hadn't been hard enough because she was still gone.

If I could help it I'd bring her back to where she belonged, with the crew, by my side. She could punch me all she wanted and I'd take it. We could yell at each other until our voices gave out, I wouldn't mind. Kira could use that blasted memory of hers to get us in trouble, I missed that sometimes. We could spend all night lying in my bed talking in hushed whispers until I had an episode and fell asleep; those were the best nights of my life. We could have sought the Hara Pirates and have helped her get rid of them; she didn't have to do it alone.

And I guess she never understood that.

But I hadn't heard or read a single word about Kira since the Hara Pirates had been taken care of by 'some mysterious force'. If I knew of her whereabouts I'd drag her back regardless if she was kicking or screaming. She was happy here, amongst family, out on the sea with us, I know she was.

Roughly, I shook my head, trying to dislodge those thoughts. I had to respect her decision, no matter how much I didn't like it. It wasn't as though there is anything I can do about it, not now at least.

And so, with that thought, I took a deep breath and then continued reading because it was the only thing I could do to keep myself together.

_Oh I hope Ace, or anyone else for that fact, doesn't get into the fridge tonight or else Ace won't have a present. Still having troubles with his birthday present…_

_I guess I'm quite nervous, a good kind of nervous, about tomorrow because my hands are shaking. I haven't a clue as to what to expect and that unnerves me a bit but I'll be ok._

Between that entry and the next, was the memory of Christmas day.

We had partied.

We stuffed our faces until we no longer could.

We merrily sang songs of nonsense, friendship, and joy.

We had danced holes into our shoes, if we were wearing shoes.

And we drunk ourselves into stupors only morning could get us out of.

Eventually snow had fallen from the skies since we were near a winter island for the occasion.

"Here." I had said after finding my voice and before thrusting my gift for Kira towards her just as she did exactly the same thing at exactly the same time.

Our gifts collided and fell to the ground. Blushing, we both dove for our gifts and coincidentally our heads knocked together and we stumbled back, holding the point of impact. Quickly, and with much embarrassment, we apologized in unison and managed to trade gifts without further incident.

"You first." I had managed to get out. I so badly wanted to see her face light up, for a smile to grace her face. I wanted to know that I hadn't screwed up with the gifts I had gotten her.

"At the same time." She argued, shaking her head and frowning at me.

She didn't want to go first. She didn't need to say those words for me to know it was true. But I understood her reasoning.

"On the count of three alright?" Kira questioned with hopeful eyes. She wanted me to agree and just go with it.

Kira had wrapped my present so neatly and had even topped it with a bow. On the contrary I had carelessly covered her gift with yesterday's newspaper and had used the first roll of tape I had laid eyes on, blue painters tape. My gift to her was a mess while hers to me was nice and neat, almost too pretty to rip apart. Almost. But I would fix that next year.

"One?" I had questioned unsurely. Was I supposed to start the count?

"Two." She continued, her fingers inching under the paper that the tape failed to keep closed.

"THREE?!" We shouted in unison in a burst of noise that no one was going to hear over the noise of the celebration. It only took a few seconds to destroy the paper that concealed our gifts. It went flying, by the handful, in all directions.

I didn't even fully unwrapped mine before my arms were around Kira and I was cheering.

Meat!

The girl had gotten me meat!

Yum.

Granted most people had gotten me meat of some sorts, but that's not what had mattered at the moment, or any moment after that. After all it'd all be gone by my birthday.

I wrapped my arms around her neck and she threw hers around my torso, lifting her arms and grabbing ahold of my shoulders from behind. "Oh Ace." She panted into my ear, making me blush.

I shook my head and nervously asked, "Do you like 'em?" My heartbeat had started going crazy, racing through my veins as the organ itself tried to hammer its way out of my chest. I thought I heard her breath catch when she had opened her gift but I wasn't too sure.

Kira pulled away, holding her gift between us, with her eyes lifted up to mine. "You know I don't know how to use these things right?"

I remembered that I had laughed. "Of course. I'll teach you." All that mattered is that she liked them. If she liked them then she'd be willing to learn how to use them. Speaking of learning I was taking lessons from a guy named Neige so that I could teach Kira how to use the weapon I had just gotten her.

"Oh good. I couldn't ask for a better teacher." She smiled slyly at me and then directed her attention to the thing wrapped around the first present. Pulling it free she held it up between the two of us and smiled. "I love the necklace." She murmured almost inaudibly as it slowly twisted around.

I was surprised, thrilled that she liked the thing because I knew that she was not a jewelry type of woman. There had been another necklace, laden with jewels and expensive metals but I knew that she'd have hated it, so I had resisted the urge to get her that thing. Not only that but this one had hidden blades in it, a feature I knew Kira would love once it was discovered.

"Yeah. It's cool."

I remember having been relieved, so thankful that I hadn't royally screwed up. I smiled at Kira, gently took the necklace from her hands and then spun her around so that we were both facing the calm, frozen ocean. I lowered the necklace down, my heart pounding. I don't think I was good at sweet things and this was certainly classified as 'sweet'. I had prayed to whoever wanted to listen to a pirate's prayers that things would go smoothly.

Without a word Kira lifted her hands and swept her hair off of her neck and I secured the clasp and slid my hands from the nape of her neck to her shoulders. I sighed and pulled her against me before pressing my mouth against her temple.

"Merry Christmas." I murmured into her ear.

I remember she had tilted her head back, leaning against my collar bone, as she reached up to give me an awkward hug. Then, in a whisper she said, "Thank you so, so much Ace." I remember not long after those words the fireworks had begun going off. In my arms Kira had spun around, grabbing my wrist and then pulling me towards the center of the deck, towards the fireworks with a carefree smile thrown over her shoulder and aimed at me.

I wished I had a picture of that moment, of that smile. I'd certainly never forget it, but I didn't want my memory to change any aspect of that moment.

We had snatched armfuls of fireworks, firecrackers and booze. I had thought that we were going to find a clear spot on the deck to launch the suckers but Kira seemed to have other plans. She pulled me to the side of the Moby Dick and then with a smile said, "Let's get away for a few minutes." I couldn't say no, it was too tempting of an offer. So we stuffed my backpack so much that it couldn't close, not even a little bit.

I don't know how long we spent out there on the water with our explosives, booze and each other, but when we got back it was as though not a minute had passed. Sure there were a few more people who were already passed out but the party was still going on strong.

We drank, shot off the firecrackers and fireworks, laughed and stole drunken kisses. Somewhere before we decided to head back fat flakes had begun falling. And when they had Kira had stood, turned her face upwards and lifted her arms skywards, a smile on her face.

She should have had a jacket. I had found myself thinking as I sat there, watching her dance without rocking the boat too much.

After tiring of dancing in the snow Kira had stepped her way to my side and plopped down next to me with a breathless, "Whew." She had wrapped her arm around mine and leaned her head against my shoulder. "You're so warm and toasty you know that Ace?"

I remember having no clue as what to say to that and decided to laugh. I should have grabbed a blanket or stolen someone else's jacket. Ah well. I could keep Kira warm without a jacket.

The next entry didn't include much about the fun we had that night. Instead, she went off on a few tangents.

_I woke up with a hang over this morning. The light hurt my eyes like hell and my head felt like Pops was punching me in the brain over and over, not a good feeling. Not only that but I could've sworn that I fell asleep in Ace's boat, maybe even in his arms, last night…I'm not too sure about that one though._

I found it rather funny that Kira remembered absolutely nothing about after we had taken that little break. She had taken a little nap on my shoulder, that was true, but she had woken me up and said it was time to go back to the ship before we got left behind again. So with that we returned to the central party and continued to party with the crew. Thatch and Marco found us and threw their arms around our shoulders and it was like we hadn't even left, not even for a second.

_Ace got me this beautiful set of black, carved nun chucks and a necklace with a tribal circular design and a round green gem in the middle. I wonder what methods he used to obtain them… you know I suppose it doesn't really matter. It just makes me feel bad that I only got him a bound of bacon. I bet everyone got him meat._

There was a frowning face at the end of that sentence and then she continued on.

_…But on another, happier note, I had sooooo much fun last night, the fireworks, the celebration, the drinking. I felt like I belonged, like this was my family, my home. Maybe I should give up on finding the Hara Pirates…decisions decisions. But anywho, we had so much fun. Even as I write this I'm grinning like a fool, like Ace when he's in trouble and knows it. You know Ace didn't have to get me anything, let alone two things because he's already given me so much. Him, Pops and the entire crew have done so much for me and I'd never be able to thank them properly. And I thanked Ace for it all last night but I don't think he knows what all I was thanking him for. Maybe one day I'll let him in on the secret._

She had never let me in on the secret that she was considering making the Moby Dick her permanent home. She never told me that I had actually made her consider not leaving.

I had been stunned when I first read that. I had read those words over and over until I could quote those first three sentences of that paragraph by heart.

I always had different reactions to reading those words. Sometimes it was anger. Anger directed at myself, at Kira and sometimes at life itself. Other times it was sorrow because we hadn't been enough. She hadn't loved the feeling of belonging enough to not leave it behind. At the moment, however, I was angry. I was biting my lip and resisting the urge to yell. If I were still on my boat I'd have yelled until I got it all out. Since I wasn't I just took deep breaths and tried to swallow down the feeling.

The next few days passed without incident worthy of documentation in Kira's opinion. December 31st, new year's eve, was the date of the next entry.

_Oi! Ace why can't you just say what you want for your birthday? I've yet to get you anything and the crew says I should give myself to you. Not happening man. Sorry. I guess I'll figure something out before tomorrow. Though if you keep singing in my face about the day of your birth I'm gonna give you a black eye. That's a promise, not a threat._

* * *

**A/N:** Good thing, I've got the end. I just need to connect point A to point B. Also I'm so sorry about the late update. It's just that I didn't touch my keyboard over Thanksgiving break. Speaking of which, I hope you all enjoyed your thanksgiving.

I certainly hope you enjoyed The Girl I Once Knew chapter 5. Thanks for taking your time to read this fic. : )

I'd love to hear what y'all thought of it. If you liked it, if you didn't like it. If I screwed up somewhere in the sentences and think it would sound better written a different way.


	6. Chapter 6

I remember that birthday the most. Not because it was any different than my other ones, well it was of course, no two birthdays were exactly the same, and not because it was any specialer- is that even a word?- than the ones that had come before it. I remember it best because Kira was there for the first time. And I know that it sounds cliché but for one she smashed MY cake into MY face and then proceeded to smear it all over my face, even getting some of my hair in the process, until she was satisfied with mess she made.

For remembering that birthday the best I can't, for the life of me, recall what on earth had possessed Kira and made her do that. Actually it wasn't that hard to figure out if you were to spend a few seconds thinking about it, but at the time I had been baffled as to why on earth she had done that.

I know that we were still celebrating New Year 's Day with booze, good, a good time and of course fireworks. As we celebrated both my birthday and New Year's Day some people came and said 'happy birthday, others were passed out drunk before they got the chance to do so.

Around two, or so, in the morning I was 'surprised' with cake, which we helped ourselves to. For a crew the size of the Pops the cake was ginormous. I must admit that I never saw it coming; I was far too engrossed in eating my own slice of chocolaty heaven to have seen the attack approaching at high speeds. After the cake was smeared in my face, and after I cleared my vision I looked around to see Kira, my only culprit, standing there, looking as innocent as a cherub. I had given her a questioning glance but then looked around at other people to see who would fess up. However, they all had their fingers pointed at the exact same person, Kira.

Even after being caught she played innocent, sucking icing off of her fingers, eyes never leaving mine, that innocent façade not being shed. When I got up, however, she spun on her heel, pushed through several people and then took off. Several times I chased her around the deck to somehow get my revenge, because heaven knew it would be sweet. Unfortunately I lost her in the chase and after that she seemed to have disappeared.

At first, I was concerned, occasionally looking around to see if I could spot her. But then, as my nakama distracted me with very drunken birthday spankings, loud cheers, toasts and, of course, more food.

Aaahh yes, that was quite the birthday.

By time morning had come most people had either long since retired, or passed out multiple times. The deck looked like a warzone with bodies sprawled everywhere, some overlapping, other lying atop each other. Mouths hung open, hands clutched bottles, cards, weapons or food, snores, loud and quiet alike, could be heard. By time dawn rolled around I was tired, so stretching and yawning, I picked my way across the deck and headed for my room, a sleepy haze hanging about my mind.

When I opened my door, however, it decided to dissipate and leave me to face the sight in front of me alone. It wasn't that bad, just Kira sitting on my bed with this nervous expression on her face. And that was cause for concern, the last part at least. She's sat on my bed before, I've sat on hers, and it wasn't like she wasn't dressed as she usually was, well minus her shoes.

I remember quite vividly almost verbally asking the question, 'Why do you look nervous?'. Sometimes I wish that I had, other times I'm glad I hadn't. Of course that was the only question that concerned me. I didn't wonder about why she was in my room and not passed out in hers, or how long she had been sitting there, seemingly waiting for me. Those were questions that I should have asked myself as well.

When I opened the door Kira looked up and she smiled at me. "Happy birthday Portgas D. Ace."

I smiled back at her and took a few steps into my room, and therefore closer to my bed. "Thanks." I murmured. Even though that cloud of sleepiness had gone south for the winter, I was still tired, about to crash at any second. "But I don't feel any older or wiser." That's what birthdays were for, that and celebrating of course.

When I got close enough to my bed Kira stood up and let me flop down on top of it before sitting down next to me.

"Do you know you never so much as hinted at what it was you might desire for this special day." Kira told me as I yawned and arched my back.

Since it was rude to fall asleep on people, I was trying my hardest to stay awake until she was done talking to me. "Aaawwww." I yawned. "You didn't have ta get me nothin'."

"I didn't." She admitted and I wouldn't ever admit it, but I was disappointed. But then Kira smiled slyly and said, "But I plan to." She leaned forwards and began tracing invisible patterns on my chest.

Hints, the size of boulders, were being flung from a catapult somewhere but I didn't so much as notice a single one. I wasn't even alarmed when she proceeded to plant her hands on my chest and throw a leg over my waist, in other words straddled me, as I should have been. I should have been very alarmed, I should have been picking up those hints, or at least have been getting hit by them, but I was tired, what else could I say?

Ok, so that might be an excuse.

Anyways I was seeing the world through half lidded eyes. I saw her form looming above me, I saw the light shadows of dawn beginning to pan across the room. I felt Kira's weight on top of me and I felt her cold fingers brushing against my bare skin.

I feel so stupid when I look back at this part of my birthday, oh so terribly stupid. Because I should have known what was about to transpire, but regardless of what I should have and didn't know, I asked the question, "Oh? Plan to what?"

She smiled again and as she slid her hands up my body said, "Oh, you'll see."

And then BAM! Like that I was suddenly wide awake. It couldn't have been the fact that her hands were cold, because they had been all over me since I lay down. However, it might have been the tone of her voice, or the spark in her eyes that had done it.

Whatever it was like a punch to the gut, instantly waking me up. In fact at that point, I was wondering exactly how it was that we were in that position, or why it was I hadn't stopped it before it got to that point.

Hopefully, I asked, "Did you get me meat?" As I grabbed her wrists, took her hands off of my torso and gave them back.

'You see, since you gave me absolutely no hints once so ever about your gift, I asked the crew."

I had two words for those words.

One being, Oh,

the other being, No.

"And do you wanna know what they suggested?"

This wasn't going anywhere good anywhere fast. However I said, "I don't know what?" I knew exactly or something close to exactly, what they had said. Knowing that, I was surprised that Kira had actually listened to them.

She wasn't drunk, I could tell that much. True she smelled of booze but, I had seen a drunk Kira once before, it was not a pretty sight. And since she wasn't drunk we couldn't blame her behavior on the alcohol.

With that Kira surged forwards, pressing her body against mine, and roughly pressing her mouth against mine, for a long hard kiss. My eyes flew open, not because Kira had managed to weasel her tongue into my mouth, or because it was expertly dancing across mine, or because one hand was fisted in my hair, the other running laps over my body, but because I realized at that moment two things.

Two very important things I might add.

One, the woman in this relationship had made the first move, not I.

And two, this was our first kiss and it was all wrong.

And before you think that I had some kind of fantasy about how our 'first kiss' would go, I didn't. It's just I hadn't thought it'd go like that. I had figured that I'd be making the first move, and that she wouldn't be doing this because she felt obliged to give me a birthday present.

Pulling away and breathing hard, her chest rising and falling as rapidly as mine, Kira breathlessly asked, "Want to take another guess?"

I was just as breathless as her but I was also surprised, and had been caught completely off guard.

There was lust in her eyes, sure, and that just made me want to wrap my arms around her, pull her body down against mine once again and steal her breath. I wanted to roll us over so that I was on top and I wanted to be the one who made all the first, all the right moves.

Yet at the same time, I wanted nothing more than to push her away and tell her that she didn't have to feel obliged because she got me no birthday present, it was no big deal. I wanted to roll us over, pin her arms to the bed and make her realize that this was silly.

But all of that got lost in translation between my thoughts and my words and actions, so I ended up laying there, getting my breath under control, silently.

Tilting her head to the side and feigning disappointment with a pouting frown she crooned the word, "No?" Her brow was furrowed and she looked slightly confused, as if she didn't understand why I didn't want to take another guess. "Well then let me give you a hint."

And with that her hands glided down my chest, over my abs, to the inside of her thighs and then up her thighs. As she did that she slowly sat up, eyes locked with mine. Her hands then traveled up her waist in exaggerated movements, and then up her stomach. The farther her hands went up her body, the more they dragged the hem of her shirt up, slowly revealing her small body. Before I knew what exactly was going on her shirt was off, a dark shadow cast to some other part of the room.

I was shocked. And that was and understatement. I was speechless, unable to move a muscle, not even the ones that were required to tell her to stop. Of course there were a million things going on in my head at that moment. My good side battled the lusting side and I hadn't the slightest clue as to what to do.

There were however to very prominent options.

One, stop Kira,

or, two, don't.

Either way I didn't want to wind up regretting my decision. And unfortunately there wasn't much time to do any thinking. Actually there was no thinking time because my thoughts froze the moment I saw that Kira wasn't wearing her usual black sports bra, but instead a lacy, silky…thing, under her shirt. How hadn't I noticed the lacy black straps either?! I wondered as I noticed her reaching for the middle of the bra.

What am I supposed to do now?

What am I supposed to do?

WhatamIsupposedtodonow?

My mind asked me over and over, panicing. If I was going to do something to stop her then I was going to need to do it soon. I didn't care if it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before, because I've seen it before, just not Kira's.

And don't get me wrong, I know how 'this' works. But this was different. It was…wrong?...maybe?

I certainly wasn't forcing anyone to do anything, but in a way I was because she thought I expected something of her. And I didn't and I had yet to make that clear.

In the middle of freaking out, because I couldn't stop her yet I couldn't let her continue, I noticed something…well stranger than this entire situation.

Kira's shoulders, they were not only bare, but also trembling.

I couldn't believe my eyes, so my gaze slid down to her chest, where her hands were in the process of reaching for the clasp in the middle, and they were unsteady as well. I then took a look at her face to confirm it.

Yes there was a sly, toothless smile on her face, but there was too much concentration in her expression, she was biting her lip, a nervous habit I had noticed, and, well, she was obviously conflicted with herself. This was something she'd never do in her normal state of mind, so there was more to it.

Slowly, I reached up and wrapped my steady hands around her trembling ones. When I did, she jumped and her eyes went wide. "Kira." I gently said, squirming so that I could sit up.

She looked at me with worry filled green eyes. "I-I'm sorry Ace. I'm not used to working one of these things. Just…just give me another second and it'll be off. I promise, just let go of my hands."

I had nearly laughed at the words she had used, and though I hadn't managed to laugh, a small chuckle did manage to slip through.

"Kira." I murmured softly, grabbing her chin and lifting it so that she's stop concentrating on the clasp of the bra. Even though there more pressing matters, I had noticed, with a thrill, that she was wearing my necklace, well the one I had given her, the pendent rested in the middle of her chest.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do." I had told her. Again, cliché I know, but I didn't know what else to say, plus it was the truth.

At that however, her lip began trembling as well and her eyes were suddenly brimming with tears. "B-but I want to. And I…I know you do too."

She sounded kind of frustrated, leading me to believe that she wasn't crying because of disappointment or sadness or something like that. Tears mean a lot of things, and I was hoping that she was crying because of frustration, preferably Kira wouldn't be crying.

"I do." I admitted aloud. It was a fact and there was no use lying. Before she could utter a sound I continued, "But, tonight's not the night for that."

"But Ace." Kira whispered. "I want to." She argued, tears slipping down her cheeks, the early morning light catching them so that, for the briefest of seconds, they looked like liquid crystals sliding down her cheeks.

"You're not ready." I muttered. Of course no one wanted to hear that, especially not the seductress.

"But I am!" She furiously protested, shaking her head and freeing the constellation of tears from her lashes.

"You're shaking." I hated to be blunt but it was true, and probably the only way to get through to Kira.

"I'm cold." She grumbled trying to turn her head and look away, but she had no such luck. I gave her a knowing look; I knew Kira wasn't cold like she had said. Her eyes narrowed and she spat, "I'm a bit nervous, sue me!"

At that point I was wondering if she was mad that I had stopped her, or if she was trying to cover up her relief. To this day, I still don't know. And to this day, I'd prefer to think that it was the later of the two.

"Kira, I don't just want to have sex." No matter how nice that might sound at times. "I want to make love ok?"

There was a long stretch of silence where Kira just blinked at me, staring as though I had a second head, or a third eye. Her mouth was hanging agape and I couldn't believe that she was that astonished that I had said those words.

Was what I had just said that unbelievable?

"Tonight's not that night." It wasn't even nighttime anymore, technically speaking it wasn't even my birthday anymore, but that was besides the point.

"But…it could be." She murmured without conviction, as if she didn't even believe her own words.

I shook my head. "No." You know I think there was still cake in my hair. "You're not ready."

Before Kira could protest any farther I kissed her lips and softly wrapped my arms around her and lay back down. I was really enforcing my point. But I held her tightly in my arms, giving her short, gentle kisses.

"Ace." Kira murmured wrestling and arm free from my embrace to brush strands of icing covered hair away from my face. "Please." She begged.

"In due time." I nuzzled into her neck. "I don't want any part of you unless we're both ready."

I think I felt her nod her head. But I know I heard a quiet, "Ok." Escape her lips after a soft sigh, just before another kiss.

For a while we just lay there, in each other's arms, kissing each other like one might kiss a dream. It was sweet, the kind of sweet that would get me shit from the crew for the rest of my life. There was nothing sexual, or sensual for that matter, just a kiss on the lips, the cheek, her neck, anywhere from her collarbone to the top of her head and vice versa.

I don't know about Kira, but I was content like that. Falling asleep like that didn't sound like too bad of an idea.

But then, rather suddenly, Kira give me another rough kiss, with a quiet growl that vibrated the back of her throat. "But until then, don't treat me like a doll Portgas. This is a hop, a skip and a jump away from plain ol' sex or even love making. So let's start skipping."

And so that's what we did.

We stopped hopping and started skipping. The soft butterfly kisses were no more, turning into rough, urgent embraces. Her hands slipped up into my hair and her fists clenched the strands tightly, keeping me firmly in place, as though she thought I'd be going anywhere any time soon.

For the second time, Kira had made the first move. I'd have to even the score eventually of course.

Our hands had been released from the shackles that had kept them from scouring each other's bodies, skimming over bare flesh.

Not only had the kisses turned rough, but I found that Kira must have some kind of experience because she ground into my lap, making me groan.

That was a morning of discovery.

I don't know why she had been so nervous if she had experience, but whatever the reason I'm glad that it was there. I had made the right decision, and I knew it the moment I stopped her from giving my birthday present.

In the end that's how we fell asleep, tangled up in each other, hands knotted in hair; fingers laced together, legs wrapped around each other, arms holding the other, faces only inches apart, bodies smashed together.

Daylight streamed through the porthole in my room, bringing me somewhat back to reality. I smiled and lay there for a few moments, unwilling to pull myself out of the amazing dream I had just had. It had been amazing to say the very least. I didn't want to wake up; I didn't want to face the day.

But then I opened my eyes and was faced with Kira's gentle face, and suddenly I didn't mind waking up. I felt myself smile because I realized that that dream was even better than just a dream. Kira's green eyes were closed, her features smooth and for once not angry. For a few moments I lay there watching her sleep. I didn't want to wake her; I didn't want to so much as to move.

It was the first of unknowingly numbered mornings that I'd have the wonderful privilege of waking up next to Kira.

There was an entry following the morning of kisses and sleep we had shared. And here's what it read,

_I am giving out black eyes today, free of charge to everyone who said that Ace would like me for his birthday. Maybe I shouldda just popped out of a cake._

I was glad that she hadn't.

_There must have been something in my drinks to make me even consider doing that. God I'm so damn embarrassed. It doesn't help that I completely and utterly failed; I made an embarrassment out of myself. You know I should give myself a shiner for listening to them, but I've got enough bruises for now, why add another one?_

_Anywho, I think Ace had a good birthday even though things went all kinds of wrong (though I'm glad they did) I should have known better…_

Yes. Yes Kira should have known better. If I had known about her quest to get me something other than meat then I'd have made something up, so that she wouldn't have done something crazy like what she had. But you know I rather liked how things had turned out, so maybe I wouldn't change a thing. Or maybe I should have told her that I wanted a kiss for my present.

After that we began sleeping together, in the most literal of senses. At first, I'd randomly wake up with Kira's body next to mine. Imagine how startling those mornings were. Imagine going to sleep by yourself and waking up with someone next to you, clinging to you and stealing your blankets. On several accounts I fell from my bed and hit my head. Of course it didn't help that not only was I waking up next to Kira but, a half-naked Kira.

But then she'd completely forget about going to her bed and was asleep in mine before I even got to it. I never minded of course, actually I thought it was cute.

_Sleeping is a rare thing as of late._ Kira's journal read.

I could just see her writing that with a small smile on her face.

_When he's gone I often find it hard to sleep. I'm afraid of what will happen to me, and Ace, when I leave. I mean I know he'll always have his narcolepsy to fall back for sleep, but it's not the same as sleeping regularly._

Sometimes I wished that I had gotten my hands on her journal sooner. Maybe I'd have been able to prepare Kira and I for the end of us. I swallowed hard and continued reading, deciding not to linger on that thought for any longer.

* * *

_I'm not too sure Ace knows what he's doing with those nunchucks. We started training today. Ace struts into the room swinging around a charred, homemade pair. That part wasn't that bad, it was fine in fact, but then he started teaching and everything took a sharp turn south. It started with Ace getting a cut from the wiring he used to make the links of the chain, I don't know how that happened, but he whined about that for a while. And then he hit himself several times while trying to show off. Fortunately it was just wood and it passed right through him._

Ok, so the first day of training had been a flop. Fine, there was no denying it at all, it had been a mess, an epic fail through and through. So after getting lunch we agreed to quit trying for the day and try again the next day. So that's what we did.

However that day wasn't much better, so we tried again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

This went on for a while. But then one day Kira said something not so shocking, but I hadn't been expecting her to say anything.

"Ace." She sighed coming out of the offensive stance I had forced one of the nunchuck experts, Brock, to teach me about ten minutes before I fell asleep that night…well that morning.

"Yes?" I asked frowning at her.

"This isn't working." She returned the frown and ran a hand back through her hair and then glanced away, as if she didn't want to admit it, but had to.

Even without my horrid teaching, Kira was good…I thought. She just needed the correct assistance, and that wasn't mine.

But I wanted it to work oh so badly. Several weeks of trying my hardest and wanting to teach Kira myself wasn't getting us anywhere.

Sighing I mimicked the movement of running my hand through my hair and then letting my arm drop to my side. It almost pained me to admit it, but I had. "Yeah, I know." I sighed again. "I'm sorry."

She put her hand on my shoulder and kissed my cheek with a stifled laugh. "You're an idiot Portgas."

"Hey!" I protested. That wasn't a nice thing to say at all! "I'm trying."

Aaahhh pride, what a wonderful thing, please not the sarcasm dripping from those words. I wanted to teach Kira myself, and I wasn't going to give up on that, especially after such hard work.

"I know. You, your homemade nunchucks and your skills suck. Sorry for the news flash but you and I both know it."

"Brock's trying to teach me. I'll go get 'em." I started for the door.

"Then stay outta here when I'm training." Kira demanded, tucking the weapon away inside of her boot.

"What?! No way!" I bad better things to do with my time than watch Kira learn how to wield a weapon, and that was exactly why I wanted to watch her. I didn't want to do those other things.

"Yes way stupid." She argued putting her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes at me.

"Why?" I challenged. If she gave me a reason I might consider listening to her.

"You'll just be in the way!" Kira shouted at me, a slight growl in her voice.

"What?"

Me, in the way?

Ok, in retrospect, she was right.

"Yeah. Thanks for your efforts, they were cute but a waste of time. I appreciate what you're trying to do but it's not working. So just go find whoever and leave us alone for the rest of the day, because I'll be making up for lost time." When I didn't move she glared daggers at me.

"You can find Brock yourself!" I raised my voice to match hers. With that I stormed towards the door, flung it open before me and before I could so much as I step over the threshold and slam the door behind me I heard her grumbled,

"Fine I will." And then, I heard the angry words, "You and I both know that I can't learn when you're the distraction Ace."

I stood still as footsteps approached. I waited for her to stop, when she did I was going to say sorry, well mutter it so quickly that hopefully it wouldn't be recognizable, but Kira didn't stop. No she roughly shouldered past me and then stormed down the hallway.

God! We had the stupidest fight today, Ace and I! This is all I will say on the matter. I of course started training today, REAL training. You know when I'm done I'm teaching Ace a few lessons.

And that's exactly what she did, using her seastone rings to make sure that the weapon wouldn't go right through my body. Everyday Kira trained for a few hours, insisting that I stay clear of the graining room. The words thing was that she even had the crew in on helping her with the feat, as angry as that made me. I'm sure they got a kick out of helping Kira, but it caused a considerable amount of disputes and yelling matches between the two of us, but the topic was the only new thing about the yelling matches and disputes.

A year later, on a warm March morning, not long before she disappeared, Kira was true to her written word.

Out of the blue Kira attacked me, and not with the usual punches either. No, she was swinging the nunchucks at me with a vengeance.

"I wonn't miss again." She had told me as I stumbled back, trying to figure out what had just whipped through my head.

"What are you doing?" I asked as she secured black bracelets around one of the sides. I was watching her, waiting for her next attack, unsure about if she was even going to attack again or not. Of course I had been hoping for not, but knowing Kira she was going to attack me again.

Bluntly, Kira answered. "What you asked me to do."

I didn't remember having ever told her to attack me because she felt like it. I do remember being confused as all hell and sheepishly scratching the back of my head. "And uuuhh…what exactly did I request of you?" I knew that she'd remember almost word for word what I had said, whether I remembered it or not.

"When you think you're good enough, when you're ready, I wanna see your skills."

I sweat dropped. Oh yeah, that rang a bell. However I NEVER told Kira to attack me out of the blue. "You thing you're good enough after only a year?" I asked raising an eyebrow. I knew that weapons took years, lifetimes, to master.

Kira's answer was a smile and to ready herself for another attack.

"You are aware that I never told you to just attack me, right?" She wasn't showing me jack, just standing there and looking pretty, she was just moving her mouth and talking my ears off. I wanted to see her skills in action now that she thought that she was ready to attack me. Most people didn't have the balls to do so.

But my words made her smile, which was not a good thing at that instance. "Oh I know." That's when I noticed a dangerous glint in her eyes.

I held my hands up in surrender, to show that I preferred not to fight, and then began taking steps backwards as I said, I've already seen your skills."

And I had, after all, once her REAL, as she had called it, training started; Kira wasn't seen without the nunchucks on her person. And whenever the opportunity arose she brandished with joy. Of course that was only with enemies. Her seastone encrusted fists were reserved, for the most part, for the crew.

"Only from afar sweetheart." She said in a sweet voice that made me quite nervous. She slinked towards me like a cat on the hunt. The more distance I tried to put between us, the less it worked.

At the word sweetheart I bolted. Not because I was afraid but because I was very afraid.

"Scared to fight a girl?" Remember that pride I was mentioning earlier? The pride that was blinding me to what was the best way to train Kira. Yeah, well it made another appearance at that moment. It forced me to slam on the breaks and whip around to face Kira.

"No! Not scared, smart." No smart man would fight their girlfriend. I mean was I supposed to beat her or let her win? That one should have been obvious, but it was a question that I was worried about at that moment because I wasn't sure.

"Come on boy." She kept advancing. "You said you wanted to see what I learned."

With a sigh I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath and said, "Fine. Then show me what you've got." This was more than just showing and I hoped that I'd be intact when the demonstration was over. Hell I hoped we were all still in one piece, because there was no promise.

I think she murmured 'with pleasure' before she charged at me with a large smile on her face, nunchucks swinging, and eyes glinting.

She had seastone on one side and so while I was hit sometimes, other times the weapon just went right through me. The problem, I never knew which blow would do what.

At first I went easy on Kira, I wasn't going to face her like I would an equal, that wasn't fair. She didn't have near as much experience as I did, and I could take down people way stronger than her. But as our fight progressed I had no choice but to up my game. I admit I wasn't expecting for her to be that good.

I had underestimated my opponent and that made me as proud as could be.

It was amazing how quickly she switched hands and went from using the nunchucks to using her fists and feet. The kicks obviously didn't make contact but the punches were going to leave bruises for a while.

Kira didn't leave that fight unscathed, but she asked for me to fight back, she even demanded that I use my devil fruit, my fire, against her. And while I could handle throwing kicks and punches at Kira, I couldn't bring myself to use fire against her. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if she got burned.

That night we collapsed on the deck, breathing heavily, smiling, well at least I was, and feeling great. Our backs were pressed together. "So what did you think?" she had asked turning her gaze skywards.

"I'm speechless honey." I smiled as I said the last word, mocking her word choice earlier that day.

"Good. One day, I want to fight on equal playing fields."

"No." No way in hell was that happening. It's not that I didn't think that she was good enough, well she wasn't quite there, she could get there if she wanted to, but I wasn't using my devil fruit against her, as I would someone I fought as an equal.

"Why?"

"There is no way in hell that I'm using my fire against you, as I would an equal or a threat. I'm sorry."

"Are you?" She asked.

"Not at all."

At that she laughed. "Well that was fun."

I couldn't help but laugh at Kira in return.

There was then a silence and then the quiet words, "I love you.", uttered in unison.

There was an entry, somewhere near the end of the journal, that depicted that memory from Kira's point of view. There were many things that happened between my birthday and that fight a year later however I decided that maybe I should take a rest, despite my determination not to stop until I got to the last page.

I looked at the title of the next entry and then closed the journal. I tucked it away inside of my bag and then put it under my bed before lying down in my bed and closing my eyes. It still felt empty, even though I was used to it now. If I tried hard enough, I could feel her body heat, I could feel her weight lying next to me.

That night my dreams were filled with strangeness, with just a pinch of Kira. Even in my dreams I couldn't escape.

* * *

**A/N:** Hello again peoples. Thank you for your reviews, your follows and your faves. I appreciate all of them. I don't really have anything to say this time sorry.

I certainly hope you enjoyed The Girl I Once Knew chapter 6. : )

I'd like to hear your opinions, did you like it, did you not. Is the OOC ness?


	7. Chapter 7

After waking up from sweet dreams that Kira haunted, I decided to get up and eat breakfast before grabbing the journal, heading outside and settling down in the crow's nest. Once I was situated I cracked open the journal and then looked up at the sky, praying that the ominous clouds overhead wouldn't suddenly decide to dump the heavy water that weighed them down upon our heads. This was the New world we were talking about, so who knew, maybe the sun would be shining in an hour, or there'd be a freak storm that would nearly kill us, but whatever the case, I hoped that nothing would happen, I couldn't let the journal get too damaged.

So turning my attentions downwards, I began reading.

_I was kidnapped like a million weeks ago! They say that nine of ten assaults are committed by people closest to you…or something like that. The point is that the person nearest and dearest to my heart snatched me from my bed in the dark of night and took off with me!_

"That's not true at all." I grumbled at the paper, and therefore Kira, with a shake of my head and a frown.

First of all Kira hadn't even been sleeping in her own bed that night. No, she had passed out in mine and was hogging covers, wrapping them around her body and leaving none for me. Second of all, I had shaken her awake, given her, a packed by me, backpack and then by her hand guided her up onto the deck and then into my boat. There had been no carrying off, no snatching. Hell, Kira had even had a conversation with me as we walked.

"Where are we going Ace?" She had groggily asked, stumping over her feet.

"You'll see." I had told her pulling her up to the rail of the ship. My boat was tethered to the side and ready to go once we got on it. "Jump on." I said turning my back to her, making the meaning of my words quite clear, or so I thought.

But there had been no jumping, as I had asked, on Kira's half. Instead, she sort of awkwardly climbed onto my back. There was a lot of grunting and maneuvering to get her in the right position, with her arms limply draped over my shoulders, her knees hooked on my elbows, which were the only things keeping her from slipping off.

"You know I don't like surprises." She murmured into my ear, her chin resting uncomfortably on the bone of my shoulder.

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow." I said before jumping down. The only reason we were leaving at three a.m. was because while packing, I had an episode, passed out until just about thirty minutes before we took off.

"Ok." She yawned and that was that. The rest of the night was quiet; the woosh of wind rushing past my ears was the only sound for the longest time.

_He claims that he woke me up and that I went with him._

I had.

_But I don't remember that at all._

Obviously.

If she had then we wouldn't have had a repeat of the last time we had been stranded on my boat together. Only the second time was by choice.

When Kira woke up she was disoriented and therefore didn't react for a good ten minutes, but when she came to there had been a lot of yelling, and then she went to punch me. I had ducked and immediately after exclaimed a victorious 'HA!' as I sprang up.

But then something unexpected slammed into my gut and I went stumbling back.

Watching her angry, green eyes go wide as she reached for me gave me the strangest sense of Déjà vu. She reached for me and I reached for her. I did not want to fall into the water. I did not want to fear for my life, even if I knew that Kira would save me.

Like the previous time, our fingertips skimmed past each other's, catching on nothing and grasping only empty air. My name was fearfully screeched into the air, but unlike last time, as I fell, I watched something harden Kira's features before she lunged at me, wrapping her arms around my middle and speeding up our decent into the water.

Into the ocean we crashed. My arms tightly wound around Kira, my lifeline the moment the water closed over our heads. Fortunately, even though we fell in, we hadn't remained in the water for long.

Even after that little episode, Kira refused to believe that I hadn't 'plucked her from her bed and carried her off'.

There was a period of time, just a few tense hours, where we stubbornly pouted, both of us refusing to apologize because we were both right. She certainly wasn't apologizing for punching me into the ocean **AGAIN**, and I wasn't apologizing for something I didn't do.

But finally she broke the silence and into my ear asked, "Where are we going?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. The East Blue?"

"You don't know?!" Kira growled. "How don't you-"

"Easy, we're looking for somebody. And God only knows where he is as of now. I mean he should have left the island by now and set out, but who knows."

"Why are we seeking someone out? Are they important?"

I had laughed at that and without hesitation said, "Yes, of course he is." The reason Kira was coming with me was because Pops thought it was a good idea to give her some experience, the kind she couldn't get by staying on the ship. Though judging by her old bounty I suppose she already had some amount of experience, she just needed more.

_We stopped at a few islands and had a bit of…fun?... while there. We got into lots of trouble to be honest. It ranged from rivaling pirate crew to Marines to Sea Kings and our own stupidity, I'll admit, sometimes it was me being stupid and not Ace. Though it was more Ace's stupidity than mine._

**_I almost died_**! Several times! Kira yelled via writing.

I'll admit there were several scares. But they weren't my fault, or her's really. Things just happened.

_First off the Mirines nearly killed me!_

Nearly was the key word there.

On one particular island, we decided to go our separate ways. Kira had wanted to shop and I hadn't. So we agreed to meet at a certain bar and then we went off on our own. I was a big boy and Kira a big girl, we'd be fine for a few hours, we could take care of ourselves.

Well that's what I had thought anyways. I did God only knows what during my free time and then, when I was ready, I went to the bar, ordered a drink and then started waiting for Kira to arrive, enjoyed a drink and some food, and when she arrived, we'd be on our way.

I ordered another drink and kept waiting and listening for any hints of Kira and her whereabouts from the people iling in and out of the bar.

I ordered more drinks, got involved in a bar fight, waited some more and then I started worrying.

Of course that wasn't until it was time that the barkeeper kicked everyone out and was declared closed. That's when I started worrying about Kira. It wasn't like her to be late, but we had never sent a time, just a location. So I waited outside the bar for a while before deciding that I should start looking for her.

I wasn't going to stop looking for her until I found her. That was that. But of course I was only able to truely look for Kira when I wasn't running or hiding from Marines. Whilst hiding in an alley I overheard some of them talking about how they should be on the look-out for me. They also mentioned how they had in their possession a female member of the whitebeard pirates, unless the tattoo was a fake.

So after that little stroke of luck I went to the Marine base of the island, usually the place I'd be avoiding to the best of my abilities unless it was necessary for me to go there. In this case it was absolutely necessary.

I got in without any difficulties. Ok, well I didn't go in, I just got around the guards around the perimeter. Along the bottom of the building there were small, barred windows that had to look down into what could only be prisoner cells, so one by one I started looking for Kira.

"Kira." I hissed into the first window.

There was a pause of silence before suddenly a warn, old face appeared in my line of sight huskily whispering, "Save me!". He startled me to say the very least.

I remember that the guy gave me quite the scare at the time. I may or may not have said that I'd help him if I could find a way, and then quickly moved on. The next window there was no reaction at all. Down the row of barred windows I went, hissing her name into all of them, waited thirty seconds and then moved on to the next.

"Kira!" I hissed into the next to last one before I was back where I started on the other side of the building, peering into the darkness below, straining my eyes to see if I could see anything other than inky darkness.

"About fucking time Portgas." She growled at me with bright, narrowed eyes as she came to the window. There was a frown on her face, her hair was a mess and she had been roughed up a little bit. And by that I mean tree was hints of blood beneath her nose, a split lip, bruises and scrapes on her face.

"Stand back." I ordered standing and readying to melt the bars.

"Don't even think about it stupid." Kira snapped, causing me to pause. "Those things are sea stone and I don't wanna end up like that sea king." By that sea king Kira meant the one that I had barbequed not only because I was starving and no fish were biting, but because it tried to swallow us whole.

"Fine. Fine. I'll see you later." And with that I stood up and jogged away, Kira yelling profanities and curses at my back.

_**For starters Ace let me get captured by Marines! They were plotting my execution and he just leaves me in that dank cell after a ten minute chat. Can you believe him?!**_ Kira's bold anger leapt from the page and left its mark in the paper, almost breaking through the page.

In my defense I had a plan.

_I was at the bar, enjoying a few shots because the shops had nothing good in them. And all of the sudden the bastards burst through the door, demanding that no one put up a fight and hand me over. Well the cowards threw me into the fire and I was forced to fight them all. And trust me I fought tooth and nail, I did a good number on them too, I'll tell you that much. But I was hoping that I'd be able to hold them off until Ace got there and could give me a hand. But he never showed and I ended up in that blasted cell, stripped of my rings and nunchucks._

_On the bright side I discovered that the necklace Ace gave me had little hidden blades in it. On the not so bright side, I ended up getting that taken from me as well._

_**Two days Portgas, you took two days to find me. Unbelievable!**_ She raged.

I left the marine base, still somehow undetected. I could have been far more discreet than I had been. I had hardly been sneaking around their grounds. I went into town, pulled out a white Marine top and cap, I had thought to keep for those 'just in in case' moments and then strolled back into the base.

I was stopped of course but I told them I was a new recruit, Aaron Preston, and without further ado I was allowed to continue on my way.

My plan had been to go straight to Kira, bust her out of the cell and then blow the place to smithereens. However, before I could even get lost, I caught another interesting snippet of a conversation. The words Sayome and execution had caught my attention in passing. So I stopped and listened in.

I don't remember exactly what they had said but there was something about an execution at noon the next day, discussion about pissing Pops off and of course wondering if they could use Kira's execution as a trap to lure me out of hiding, since they had heard that I was on the island.

When that part of the conversation had come up I had found myself smirking, on the island, ha! What would they do if they knew I was outside their door?

That's what made me change my plans.

Instead of finding Kira, I set off to find her things because I doubted we'd have time to grab them, not with the way the new plan had been playing out in my mind. When I was stopped I used my alias and was then sent on my way or given a set of orders I wasn't going to follow.

I ended up staying at the base all night.

Lucky me, when I went to report for guard duty, the guy stood up, passed the keys off to me, and then went on his way. I may or may not have let out a few of the prisoners from their cells, I don't remember.

* * *

"You!" Someone shouted, waking me up from my sleep.

I scrambled to my feet and attention. "Yes sir?" I barked, saluting the person who had woken me. I was the new recruit, and therefore everybody was my superior and I was to listen to them, or at least that's how it should have worked.

"Bring me Sayome."

"Yes sir." And with that I spun on my heel and marched towards her cell. I threw open the barred door, grabbed her arm and began roughly dragging her towards the awaiting Marines, grumbling, "You're coming with me." I was careful to keep my face either turned away or hidden beneath the bill of the cap.

"Watch it or ya won't be able to bare children bastard." Kira growled struggling against my grasp.

She went to punch me, but before her fist could slip through her intended target, and blow my cover, I reacted before I could think, and slapped her across the face, growling, "Like hell you will bitch." Before picking her up from the floor and dragging her out of the cell.

Later I would be sure to apologize for having played the role of the Marine too well.

When I reached the group, Kira was taken out of my grasp and then bound. I was then ordered to hold the lead that tied her hands together and follow them.

But things didn't go smoothly for them.

Oh no no no, the girl fought every step of the way. She did it with joy, turning the Marine's weapons against them. Their gunfire didn't hit her, their punches or attacks were redirected. She killed a few, and injured several more of those bastards.

For a moment I stood there watching her in action, and for a moment I was proud. That was my Kira, fighting with nothing but her hands and her feet in a sea of Marines.

But then I had to be the one to bring her success to an end because we weren't where we needed to be, not yet. From the town's central square, where the execution would be held at, was a straight shot to the docks, where my boat wasn't hidden. But the caves where it was hidden were about a five minute walk from the docks, so they were close enough. But the Marine base was on the other side of the island so we had to get to the center of the island before we could make our escape.

I grabbed Kira's arm, twisted it behind her back and began propelling her towards the central square of the town. The island was small, there were ships that were larger than it, but this one was a moving island, so it was hard to find unless it was by accident.

Kira continued to struggle. "Chill." I hissed into her ear.

She stiffened and then proceeded to struggle even more. "Ace?" She asked with disbelief in her voice as she craned her neck to get a look at me.

"Sush! Just keep acting like a prisoner. I have a plan." I paused, not elaborating. But then asked, "Do you trust me?"

"Of course." Kira answered without even a heartbeat of hesitation. Of course that had made me feel great.

"Great. Then keep doing what you're doing. Don't worry." And with that Kira started kicking and screaming again, wreathing in my grasp.

As she fought she caught Marines with her flailing limbs, giving a random kick to the temple, the stomach, or a smack to the groin or a kick to the throat. With the help of other Marines, we made it through the crowd that had surrounded the scaffold to see an execution. But it wasn't an execution that they were going to get.

She 'broke free' of my hold and as they chased her about and got her under control I disappeared into the crowd, discarding the cap and unbuttoning the shirt. It took several minutes for the Marines to not only get Kira under control and heading in the right direction, but also up onto the scaffold. Every step of the way Kira struggled and fought the Marines, going as far as biting them. On the scaffole, she struggled as hard as she had been but was eventually forced to her knees by the force of several large men.

She looked up, eyes frantically searching the crowd for me and filled with panic and fear when she didn't see me.

Before they could harm a hair on her head I jumped onto the edge of the scaffold gave them a two finger salute, a smile and said, "Howdy. I'm just gonna steal my girl away from y'all. I hope you don't mind." With that I grabbed Kira, jumped into the air and sent a rain of fire down upon the Marines and the Scaffold that they had intended to kill Kira on.

The moment the soles of my shoes hit the cobblestone street I set Kira down, to let her do her own fighting and did a once over to make sure she was indeed ok. But instead of immediately turning on them, she grabbed each side of the marine shirt I still had on and slammed her mouth against mine. She just as quickly pulled away and then we took off running. My boat was near, we both knew exactly where it was, it was just a matter of getting there unharmed.

_We narrowly escaped, but we did and that's what matters. We came out of that one unscathed and with that behind us we continued our journey through the Grand Line._

The moment we were safe, I began profusely apologizing to Kira. But she had put her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eyes and then given me a firm shake. "You did what you had to do. I understand."

I frowned at her. "I didn't have to slap you." I had argued with her. I was willingly apologizing for something I did do, why couldn't she just accept with it and let me continue on with my apology?

With that Kira reared her fist back and slammed it through my cheek, she stumbled forwards having not made contact, but I caught her and set her back on her feet with a smile at the expression on her face. Then I grabbed the hand and began examining it for any signs of injuries. I remember being worried that I might have burned her because neither of us were used to her fists sliding right through my body.

She gasped and I dropped her hand, afraid that I had hurt her somehow. But she shook her head at me, as if reading my mind. "I'm fine, it's just my jewelry is gone, those rings weren't cheap and the things you gave me, those are priceless. Oh god Ace I'm so-"

"Oh yeah I almost forgot!" I interrupted her as I took off my bag, searched for her things. As I found several of her rings I told her to hold out her hands. Surprisingly enough Kira obeyed without arguing, a rare thing for her. Soon her hands were filled with ten rings, a necklace and from her wrist dangled a pair of nunchucks.

Adjusting my backpack I scratched the back of my head saying, "Sorry I scared you." The look in her eyes, it was almost as bad as the one on her face when she couldn't find me in the crowd on top of the scaffold.

At that she rolled her eyes and said, "Listen to what I'm saying stupid." She paused, giving me this 'you had better listen real close' look. "It's fine. I'd be mad if we were injured or if your rescue attempt failed, or if you hadn't gotten my things, but it's all good, so forget about it. It doesn't matter anymore."

"Are you sure?" I wasn't too sure about it. And was going to say as much when she crossed her arms over chest and with narrowed eyes asked,

"So what are we doing? Where are we going? And don't give me some bullshit about surprises Ace." Apparently my previous answer wasn't good enough. I knew that she hadn't forgotten. Or maybe she was testing me, seeing if I'd say the same thing as before or if my story had changed.

So I had let out a heavy sigh and caved, deciding to give her only a fraction of the truth as an answer. "We're looking for someone alright?" I remember praying to anyone who would listen that Kira would accept that little information and wouldn't ask any more questions. I had wanted it to be a surprise, though why that was I can't remember.

"Who?" Her crossed arms unfolded and she put her hands on her hips and gave me this I had better tell her look.

"Someone I haven't seen in a while." I confessed.

"We're not assassinating anybody are we?"

"Wha-No!" I had shouted a bit too loudly holding up my hands and shaking my head. "No, of course not." I muttered but a bit more quietly as I scratched the back of my head, averting my eyes from Kira.

She had merely frowned at me, said, "Whatever," And that was that. There was no further mention of the reason why we were traveling down the Grand Line, much to my relief.

_There were plenty more mishaps along the way, trust me. For example, Ace saw these little snot nosed brats slurping ice cream from the bottom of their cones and so he decided that it looked fun. God that was such a mess. Ace bit off the bottom of the cone and ate the ice cream from the hole he had created. His face caught most of the ice cream, not his mouth. And if that wasn't bad enough he somehow convinced me to try it as well. I honestly don't know how he managed._

I smiled at that. We had been such messes after that, chocolate ice cream covered my face and dripped down from my chin and my nose. I remember having melted ice cream in my ear. Kira wasn't much better, though she had gotten vanilla ice cream. I remember having tried to eat the ice cream off of her face and getting punched for having even thought about dragging my tongue up the side of her face.

I'll admit that wasn't one of my brightest ideas.

But not only had we had a yummy snack but, we had fun. Even though we were messy and in severe need of cleaning up, we had been a mess of giggles and laughter that had us stumbling around the streets like drunks.

_A few islands after the ice cream incident Ace got caught sealing something. I still don't know what it was, but that got us ran out of town and then chased off of the island. It wasn't because he had tried to steal something but because he had burned down half of the island while butting heads with the owner of the place that he had shoplifted from._

It was some sake for Pops, I couldn't resist. It was a brand that I knew that he really liked. And the shop keeper was trying to get it back, not by stealing it back from me but by trying to beat me into a bloody pulp. I had to defend myself. It wasn't my fault that things got caught on fire as a result…Ok so it was sortta my fault but if the guy had just let me steal the thing of sake then we'd have been fine and the island would have been ok.

_You know most of the time Ace is a pretty smart guy. But the rest of the time he's an absolute retard, a cute, adorable, extremely hot, retard, but a retard none the less. It's about a 25:75 ratio of smart to stupid._

I flipped the page. The first time I had read that I had beeen frowning at the fact that she had called me retarded. Now, I was slightly smiling at the complementary part of the sentences about me being retarded, attractive and smart.

_Ace tried to smuggle this demonic looking lava dog thing from a summer island, attempted to barbeque a sacred water dragon from a spring island and eat an egg of some phoenix deity of another summer island. Each time the natives of the island almost had our heads! Seriously I don't know how we survived. _Kira confessed.

The next few pages proceeded to tell about the times she listed above. And after that came a part that I'd rather not remember of the trip. It was my least favorite, but I had to read it to get to one of the best parts of the trip. So I continued on, not opting to skip that part.

_I found it rather amusing how angry Ace sometimes got when random douche bags hit on me, or how pissed the looks some members of the male species gave me made him. On one occasion it was a group of girls that were eyeing me, but anyways that was his leading cause for starting a fight, especially if he told them to knock it off and they ignored him or started taunting him and his manhood._

_One sneer went something like, 'Not man enough to keep your girl?'. That one never failed to get Ace out of his chair. I think it's because it was their man pride clashing._

It was not 'our man pride clashing' that made me punch out those bastards teeth or lights. No. I had given them a warning and if they weren't going to heed it then they'd have to face the consequences. I wasn't fighting for Kira, she wasn't a prize to be won through a competition, I knew that. And I wasn't afraid that she was going to dump me for those loosers. No, I just wanted them to get a hint and leave us alone.

_He hated when they hit on me, an occurrence that happened often enough. But he hated it even more when I played along to get a few free drinks. I used to do it all the time when it was just me. Having Ace along wasn't going to change things. Sorry babe._

Kira apologized only in writing. Never did she verbally apologize for her old habits. Actually there were no pet names either, no babes, no baby's, no cupcakes or sweeties or honeys. No nothing. Sure she called me Portgas or Ace but those were both variants of my name. And I always called her Kira, sometimes Sayome, but nothing else.

_On our trip there was this one time in particular that really pissed Ace off. It made him so mad that he gave me the cold shoulder for a full four days. But it was worth it._

I shook my head in disagreement. "You could have gone about it differently." I told 'her'. If she had a problem with how things were she should have said so instead of demonstrating her point through her actions, lies and humiliation.

I had every right to be mad, to give her the silent treatment and show Kira just how mad I had been at the time. Even now I can hardly believe that she had done what she had.

We had been at a bar, nothing unusual, they always have the best and cheapest food, even though we never paid, and we were eating before we were going to set out again. We didn't have to stop but, at the same time Kira and I could only stand so much roasted fish and soggy sandwiches prepared on the previous islands.

We were eating and drinking and having a decent time, enjoying ourselves at the bar, ignoring all the other people that were in the room with us. Well along came some fat guy and his groupies, loudly proclaiming that they were the best of the seas. They were obnoxious and if they hadn't started stuffing their faces I'd have shut their traps for them. I'd have been doing everyone a favor if I hadn't decided to keep my fists to myself.

Their leader, the fattest, most disgusting guy of the group, plopped down on the stool next to Kira and proceeded to barge into our conversation. Kira had been doing a good job ignoring them as they had walked in, continuing our conversation even though she was obviously displeased with the bunch of idiots that had walked in. He leaned towards her, slowly raking his small, beady eyes over her body as he flashed her a lecherous smile, filled with gaping black holes and stained teeth.

If you ask me I think it was obvious that we were together, as something close to a couple.

They exchanged some words, ones that I don't quite remember but then all of the sudden Kira burst out laughing. As she did so she put her hand on the man's thigh and said, "The only way I'd take you up on your generous offer is if I were shitfaced and couldn't tell up from down."

The man yelled at the bartender and ordered something strong for Kira, who passed more than half of them off to me and drank happy and then continued stuffing his face with the food he had ordered. All the while they talked and she laughed, I was discreetly telling her that we didn't have time to mess around, that she shouldn't be leading that guy on, telling her that I didn't like the looks of this guy, and that she had better not get shitfaced because I didn't want to be here tomorrow. But she waved my words away with her hand and giggles that I could tell were fake.

After getting fed up with Kira and the fact that she was now ignoring me, I got up, grabbed her arm and had every intention of dragging her out of the bar and to my boat to get the hell out of there. Maybe I'd even find their ship and destroy it. But before I could even manage to pull Kira off of her stool she grabbed my upper arm and pulled me back towards her.

She draped herself over me and then said, "Don't mind him." She giggled behind her hand and said something that I had not been expecting. "You see we wants to watch us."

"I do not!" I loudly exclaimed, shocked that she had said that.

"He gets off on watching me with other men." Kira said, making things worse. The guy looked me over with this look that made me shudder then and now.

Absolutely appalled at what she was insinuating I growled, "Kira!", unable to think of anything else to say. I had been speechless.

She looked from the man and at me with a playful smile. She might have been having fun but I certainly hadn't. And if I had known that there was a reason for her behavior I'd have found out why and rectified my mistakes to keep that from having happened.

"He's getting flustered at the thought of us." She said with a smile as she turned away from me and giggled once again. "Come on, our room is pretty close." And with that she grabbed the man's large, meaty hand and began pulling him out of the bar. His friends trailed out behind him.

I had been so confused that I had quietly followed Kira, wrapping my arm protectively around her waist, pulling her close to me. We hadn't gotten a room on that particular island because we hadn't stopped for sleep, just a meal and a drink.

"So he likes ta watch huh?" The man asked giving me another once over. I could see his thoughts in his eyes. And it wasn't the fact that he thought that I was a wimp that bothered me. No, it was all those disgusting thoughts that made me want to punch out the rest of his teeth.

But she continued the charade. "Yup. He loves to watch me give assholes like you a nice, hard pounding." Her words were provocative and the man obviously liked it, hanging on each and every word.

At those words I had given Kira a sharp look. Did she realize what she was doing?

Of course she realized what she was doing. It was I that didn't realize what Kira was doing.

"Do ya now?" The man asked me. I could see the lust in the guy's black eyes. He was mentally undressing Kira, thinking of all the dirty things him and his friends were going to do to her.

"Oh yes. It's because I love to do this thing that he just loves." She paused and put her hands on him. I watched her lick her lips and smile seductively at him. "Why don't I show you?" She whispered in a husky voice.

I had been so close to grabbing her, shaking her roughly and telling her to stop being so damn sexy for those men. I was seconds from telling her that she could only be like that with me.

"Here?" He asked looking around.

"Yeah. This is the perfect spot." Kira crooned. We were in the middle of an intersection, the buildings set back off the road. This was not the perfect spot for whatever it was she was planning. "Are you ready for that pounding?" She innocently asked getting closer to him.

He eagerly nodded his head. And I watched a real smile blossom on Kira's face just seconds before she bent down and then snapped back up. As the man went flying back I understood what was going on, or so I thought I did. Tightly gripped in her hand were her nunchucks.

At the moment of my supposed understanding, all hell broke loose. The group of four guys that had been silently following behind their leader, because he told them that they'd be getting some as well, lunged at Kira, all of them grabbing at her. But she danced out of their reach with a genuine laugh.

"Come on boys." She sang. It was one small girl against four large guys, at least three times her size, so I lit my hands on fire and was about to jump in and help her beat the shit out of those guys, they deserved nothing less, but when she saw me she shook her head, frowning at me as she stepped close to me. When she was close enough she put her hands on my chest and gently pushed me away, quietly saying, "You like to watch, remember?"

"Not funny." I had growled at her, glaring daggers that didn't seem to have any effect on her.

"Oh let me have my fun." Kira whined and then turned on her heel.

But before she could get too far, I grabbed her arm and as she turned back towards me said, "That's not the way to do it."

"Jealous?" She asked as all five men got to their feet.

At that question I should have pieced together what was going on, or at least why it was Kira was acting out like that. But the key word there was should, I should have but, I hadn't.

"I don't particularly like you enticing disgusting perverts like that." I hissed at her, carefully watching them creep up on Kira. The fools thought that just because I was keeping her preoccupied that she wasn't going to be able to take care of the five of them. Well they were sadly mistaken.

Kira smiled at me, kissed my cheek and leaning is said, "I gotta teach 'em a lesson." And with that she spun around and started having fun 'pounding' the guys, just as she had promised them.

Once the group of five were all taken care of Kira danced back over to me, hooked our arms together and said, "Alrighty, I'm ready to go."

And so we started walking, towards the beach where my boat was.

At first there was only silence between us. But after a few minutes I couldn't keep silent any longer. "Don't do that again." I grumbled at her. Her actions made me wonder though if she was so good at seducing people, why was it so hard for her to attempt to seduce me? But I didn't let myself linger on that question for any longer than a second.

"Why not?" Kira questioned. "I had fun."

Those careless words made my eye twitch. Fun? She thought that was fun?

"Do you thing that turning on bastards like that for a good laugh is fun?" Slowly, as I asked the question, my voice got louder and louder, my anger and disbelief at Kira showing more and more.

"We got free drinks. And besides you've always got girls fawning all over you. Ever heard of a fucking shirt?!" She shouted back at me, our arms still linked together.

Me not wearing a shirt had nothing to do with anything. No, she was getting even with me for not being more aggressive when girls were constantly 'fawning all over me'. I understood then what Kira's problem was.

But none the less I shouted at her, "Is that what this is about?!"

"Yeah! It is!" She confirmed without a seconds hesitation. It was definitely why she had gone through all of that trouble, why she had said those things.

_But no matter where we went, some people don't understand that when a girl and a guy walk into a bar together, or any place in fact, that they're together! And unless you beat them off with a stick their not getting off. Just thinking of those whores makes my blood boil!_

"I don't do that!" I shouted at her. I never lead girls on like Kira had done those guys tonight. I don't give them any reason to hope that they have a change. I always make it very clear that I'm with Kira. It's not my fault that most of them are like 'she'd never know' or 'we don't have to tell her' or something like that.

"Of course not!" She agreed with me. "But you don't do anything about 'em either!"

"That's right. That's because you're the one that usually does it." Kira had no qualms about beating the girls off with her sticks. She had no problem grabbing them by their hair and throwing them through a wall. I always politely tried to get them off of me, or to nicely warn them about Kira and her wrath but it never really worked.

She glared at me.

Boy. if looks could kill…

"Were you trying to make me jealous?" I asked her after a few minutes of her just glaring at me.

"No!" She sounded appalled at the idea of trying to make me jealous even though she had asked me if I had been jealous earlier. "I was just trying to show you how it feels."

I was quiet for a few minutes, wondering about a few things. But finally I asked, "Would you accept it if I said sorry?"

"No!"

I sighed. I hadn't thought so. But it had been worth a shot. "Fine." And that was that. That was the last thing we said to each other for the next four days. Between us there was just silence as we traveled.

As much as that night and those days sucked, we at least managed to work things out. Kira said.

Around noon of the fourth day Kira sighed into my ear and said, "Fine, I'd accept it if you were to say sorry."

And so I said sorry. And we proceeded to talk, Kira agreeing that her behavior hadn't been the best way to get me to agree to be a bit more aggressive, and me saying that I'd be more firm with the girls that bothered Kira so much.

That was basically it; we were back to 'normal' after that.

I smiled the best part was next. Well one of the best parts of the trip.

* * *

**A/N:** Hello again peoples. Thank you for your reviews, your follows and your faves. I appreciate all of them. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. :)

I certainly hope you enjoyed The Girl I Once Knew chapter 7. : )

I'd like to hear your opinions, did you like it, did you not. Is the OOC ness?


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